Cinderella: HSM Edition
by general wildcat
Summary: A remake of Disney's Cinderella with all the HSM characters. She's been a servant in her own home and abused by her stepmother and stepsisters but can one night change all that? Can the prince find who fits the glass slipper? Rating should be safe.
1. Prologue

Alright, so I'm finally starting my new story. You guys voted, and the winner was Cinderella. I must say, I'm excited to do it. It's following the classic Disney story, unlike all the Cinderella remakes. I've already watched the movie on youtube a couple of times and made an outline of how many chapters, where they'll start, and where they'll end. It doesn't look like it's going to be as long as my Beauty and the Beast story, but I don't intend to add as many extra scenes. Partially because i couldn't think of any, and partially because I like the movie just the way it is. Anyway, I'll leave you to the Prologue where we'll be introduced lightly to a couple of the characters...  
Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Once upon a time in a faraway land, there was a tiny kingdom. It was very peaceful and prosperous, and rich in romance and tradition. Here in a stately chateau, there lived a windowed gentleman and his daughter Taylor. Although he was a kind and devoted father, and gave his child every luxury and comfort he could, he still felt she needed a mother's care. Deciding to marry again, he chose for a second wife a family of good fortune and two daughters just around Taylor's age. They went by the names of Sharpay and Tiara.

It was upon the untimely death of this good man, however, that the stepmother's true nature was revealed. Cold. Cruel. And bitterly jealous of Taylor's charm, wit, and beauty. She was determined to forward the interest of her two uncommon, very spoiled daughters. She was going to make sure that nothing stood in her way.

Thus as time went by, the chateau fell into disrepair. The family fortune was squandered for the selfish reasons of the stepsisters. The stepmother allowed her children to do as they pleased and made sure that Taylor's life was miserable. Through all this Taylor was abused, humiliated, put down, and eventually forced to become a servant in her own home. And yet, despite all of that, Taylor managed to remain gentle and kind, even willing to stand up for herself in the darkest hours. For with each new dawn she found hope that someday her dreams would come true.

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I know, it was incredibly short. My apologies. I'm going to watch the next scene of the movie ASAP and work on that, then get it up. I do hope that this was a good start. I'm not going to bother with much more talking here because if I do, then all the A/N's will be longer than the chapter itself and we don't want do we? Didn't think so. So, feel free to leave any comments. If you're excited, if you feel anything else, anything you're looking forward to...or even just to say hi cause it's nice to do that too. xD So until the next chapter, I bid you all good-night.


	2. Chapter 1

It looks like the prologue, despite its shortness, went over really well. So for all you guys who reviewed, favorited, hit, visited, etc, thank you. I'm glad this story is off to a good start and i can't wait for this to really take off. So now in here, we're going to meet a few new characters and also get a look at the theme of the movie. Yeah, the kind that makes you feel all soft and mushy inside. ^^ Happy mushying, everyone!  
Disclaimer: I don't own the song, characters, movies, nothing.

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The sun slowly rose into the morning sky, the shadows beginning to disappear from the chateau's tower. A pair of bluebirds made their way up to the tower, flapping their wings until they were able to rest on the windowsill. A pair of slightly torn curtains rested in the window, barely allowing any light into the tower. The birds each took a side of the curtains and slowly pulled them back, allowing the early sunlight to pour into the room. It was quite small and looked about in as much disrepair as the rest of the chateau. Not much appeared to be in there aside from a bed, the window, a dresser, desk, chair, and a divider. In the bed there appeared to be a sleeping person, though it was hard to tell because the patched up blanket was covering the majority of the furniture. The birds flew in one the curtains were pulled back all the way and sat down on the headboard of the bed, looking at the supposed sleeping figure. But of course, the birds had been in there numerous times before; they each had on a vest and a little hat - or in one of their cases, a little ski hat - as if they were small blue people. It was obvious that they were more than welcome there. But it didn't look like anyone was there to greet them this morning. The birds exchanged glances before looking back at the figure. They tweeted slightly, as if they were trying to wake the person up.

There was little response. The figure under the blankets moved and the pillow became half folded, as though it were covering a face.

The birds flew over. One lightly pulled on some black locks while the other tried its best to pull off the blankets, with little success. A yawn then escaped the person and the birds nearly jumped up as the person shifted in their sleep. They were now lying on their stomach, the pillow covering their head with only a small opening for the birds to crawl under and get their attention. One of the birds landed on the pillow and noticed this, tweeting to the second bird and pointing to the pillow.

The second bird shrugged its shoulders and tweeted back, with the assumption that the idea wasn't so good.

The first bird rolled its eyes and shook its head, which easily caused its hat to fall off and reveal the messy feathers on its head.

Giving in, the second bird sighed and flew over to the pillow. Tweeting slightly, it poked its head under the pillow and started crawling under, only to be answered by a giggle. The bird gasped and jumped out, quickly ducking behind the headboard and only slightly poking its head out.

The first bird tried a different approach. turning around and leaning forward, like it was looking for a back way to get in, it poked its head behind the pillow. As it did that, a cocoa shaded hand crept over and playfully flicked its tail. The bird gasped, grabbing its tail and flew back to the other bird, nearly banging into it and knocking it off of the headboard. They turned their heads around to see a laughing young lady slowly rise from under the blankets. Her black locks were just past shoulder length and were somewhat curly, and her brown eyes matched her skin tone very well. Though it was hard to see her figure underneath the blankets, it was easy to tell the young lady was around her teens. One could assume she had a very nice figure, and even as sleepily as she was, she had an amazing smile. That, of course, was none other than Taylor.

"Good morning to you too, guys." she only rolled her eyes slightly at the birds. While Taylor was not the best in the morning, and with good reason, it was her little animal friends that did the trick to cheer her up. As a matter of fact, if it weren't for them she'd have no idea what she'd do. The house would be nothing but a prison under the ruling of Judge Stepmother and Officer Stepsister One and Officer Stepsister Two...or something along those lines. But of course, those weren't the people she liked to think of first thing. Taylor dealt with them enough during the day. Even she knew not to take her frustration out on her little companions. and even though the birds were a bit angry for their flicking right now, Taylor knew it best to explain herself. Though there wasn't much of an explanation to give; it was about the same thing every morning, and they knew her well.

"But you know it serves you right for spoiling people's dreams."

The birds responded by flying over to the window and sitting at the windowsill, pointing at the large clock tower in the distance.

"Yes I know it's a nice morning," Taylor nodded as she ran her fingers through her hair, "but it was such a nice dream, too." She sighed contently and leaned back on the bed. Taylor had never really been much of a dreamer, but living as a slave under her own roof gave her the right to dream. It was the thing that kept her going. After all, if she had thought so negatively all of these years then where would she have been? Way worse off than where she was now. And by no means did that mean she had no guts. Taylor was more than capable of standing up for herself. It was just a shame it was so hard to get even one word in edgewise with anyone around here.

She diverted her attention back to the birds, whom she had named Skater and Crony (Skater for its messy feathers and Crony because it was always following Skater around), who were now sitting on her lap eager to hear about her dream.

"What kind of a dream?" Taylor interpreted their tweets. She then shook her head at them. "Can't tell."

The birds exchanged glances once more before looking back at Taylor. The looked at her questionably before she gave her answer.

"Because if you tell a wish, then it won't come true." Taylor answered as she ran a brush through her hair briefly. "And after all..." Her words were then replaced with a sweet melody.

_"A dream is a wish your heart makes"_

Skater and Crony rested themselves comfortable on her lap as a few more birds, each with a hat or vest of their own flew looked like a bunch of feathery people in their own little nests. Some looked sporty. Some looked nerdy. Some even looked like Skater and Crony. The birds happily flew in and made themselves comfortable around the room as they listened to Taylor's soft yet powerful voice.

_"When you're fast asleep_

_In dreams you will lose your heartaches_

_Whatever you wish for, you keep"_

A red bird in a little bow tie tried tweeting along, until another bird in what looked like a tiny sports jacket, shushed it. The red bird sighed and flew over to the headboard and tweeted along with Taylor contently. Taylor allowed him to do so as she ran her brush through her hair once more.

_"Have faith in your dreams and someday_

_Your rainbow will come smiling through"_

Poking his head out of a mouse hole near the bed, a dark brown almost black mouse yawned and stretched before stepping out into the open. His fur was messed up, mostly like bedhead. he had on nothing but a red t-shirt and little red slippers, and dragged a darker red vest in his paw along with a white hat almost looking like a chef's hat. He yawned, slowly allowing himself to wake up as he listened.

Inside the mouse hole, another mouse was waking up from his bed, a small feather bed with a tiny blanket, and stretching. Even from in there he could hear Taylor's voice. He yawned and looked at his tangled tail, then out the mousehole, then back at his tail. The mouse groaned and started attempting to undo the large knot.

_"No matter how your heart is grieving"_

The dark colored mouse crawled onto the desk by Taylor's bed and relaxed at her singing, much like the other mice as they arrived out of their beds and joined them and the birds.

_"If you keep on believing_

_The dream that you wish will come true"_

But like all nice things, they just had to be interrupted. the animals in the room nearly jumped as they heard the loud dinging of the clock tower. Taylor groaned as she sat up and put her brush down.

"Urg, that clock." she sighed as she pulled off the blankets.

The clock rung again and Taylor tossed her pillow to the side before sitting at the edge of her bed and walking into her slippers.

"That funsucker." she mumbled to herself.

It dang again and she became more frustrated.

"I hear you, I hear you!" she called as though it were actually able to hear her. She began talking as it dang. "Get up, you say. Get up you sleepy head. It's time to start another day." Taylor rolled her eyes before looking at one of the female mice, one in a nice dress who looked a little on the obese side compared to the rest of the mice, who folded her arms like she could tell Taylor's frustration perfectly. Taylor nodded at the mouse. "I know Martha, even he orders me around."

Martha nodded in agreement, along with the two smaller mice sitting beside her.

Knowing she couldn't bring down her friends like this, Taylor changed her tune. There was no sense in starting another day with a bad attitude. "But there is one thing no one can do. They can't order me to stop dreaming." She nodded to one of the birds flying to her. "And perhaps someday..."

_"The dreams that I wish will come true"_

Going into the best expectations for the day, Taylor spun around back over to her bed and picked up the blanket, tossing it into the air. A small group of the birds each took an edge and folded the blanket perfectly, making the bed, while a few others jumped on the pillow and stretched it out as though they were fluffing it.

Taylor made her way behind the divider and poured some water into a small bowl, leaving a dry sponge next to it, as Martha started shooing the boys out of the room.

"Go on, shoo!" Martha scolded. "Out, out."

While the rest of the family would get the actual shower in the house, the best that Taylor could do was the water and a sponge. It was better than nothing. She put her hair up in a bun and hung her sleep wear on the divider as another group of birds dropped the sponge into the bowl. Once it soaked up enough liquid, as many birds as possible got together to lift up the sponge and squeezed out all the possible water from it onto Taylor like she was getting a mini shower. Taylor continued humming the tune, though let out a loud shiver at the feel of the water.

As that went on, the remaining birds hung up her sleep wear and then grabbed her work clothes from their hander and rested them on the chair while the mice lay everything out. The work clothes were about as simple as they could possibly get. With a white apron there was also a green long sleeve shirt, a long darker green dress, and simple black shoes at the floor. A few of the mice shined her shoes and dusted off the clothes, humming along to Taylor's tune. On the desk, another mouse pulled out a light green sash, almost like a headband, from the drawer, and a final pair of mice filled the background with 'la's' as they neatened out the headband and rested it down.

Taylor gathered her clothes behind the divider and slipped them on after drying off, then stepped into her shoes. A pair of birds flew behind her with the apron, tying it around her waist tightly.

_"No matter how your heart is grieving"_

She then sat down in her chair and ran her brush through her hair one more time. The birds then picked up her headband and handed it to her.

_"If you keep on believing"_

Taylor then wrapped it around her hair, evening everything out as she looked at her reflection in the mirror.

_"The dream that you wish will come true"_

"Tay-Tay! Tay-Tay! Come here! You gotta come here!"

Taylor turned to see the male mice crawling back under the door, begging for her attention. She watched as they crawled onto her desk, still trying to get her attention even though they already had it.

"One at a time, one at a time." she attempted to calm them down. Taylor turned to the darker mouse, the leader of the pack. "Alright Zeke, what's going on?"

Zeke, like all the other mice, talked in a squeaky voice and some of the letters sounded like others. "Dere a mouse downstair. Bwand new. Never saw 'em afore."

"A new mouse?" Taylor asked curiously. She opened one of the drawers and pulled out a tiny dress. "Well then, she'll need a dress...."

Zeke couldn't help but laugh. "No, no, no." He eagerly waved his vest. "Like dis. It a dude."

Taylor blinked. A girl who had once surprised her father with her intelligence made the complete wrong assumption. How embarrassing. "Well that does make a difference." She tried to make the heat fade from her cheeks as she replaced the dress with a hat and shirt.

Zeke jumped in front of her again, trying to get more attention. "No now! Trap trap! In trap!" he exclaimed.

Taylor's eyes widened. "What? In a trap?" she gasped. "Why didn't you say so?" Removing herself from the chair, she ran over to the door and left it open for the mice to get out easier, then started descending the stairs with them following her. While there were numerous stairs it didn't take her very long to reach the half way mark; walking up and down them everyday was a good workout. And right at the halfway mark of the tower was where she saw a small cage with a mouse trapped inside of it. A few of the other mice were hanging around the cage, trying to get the attention of the little guy inside of it. The mouse inside the cage picked his head up and looked at Taylor; as she lifted the cage in her hands, he scooted as far back as he could.

"alright everyone, calm down." she told the critters. She unlocked the trap door and looked at the shivering mouse inside. His fur was a red-brown color and especially the fur on his head looked messy. He was trembling like there was no tomorrow. Taylor sympathized with him; she knew what it was like to be trapped so easily. She sighed watching him. "The poor little guy is scared to death." Taylor turned to Zeke and carefully set down the cage. If anyone could calm this new mouse down, Zeke could. "Zeke, would you like to try explaining things to him?"

"Yup yup, Tay-Tay." Zeke nodded. "Yup yup." He contently walked into the cage and over to the mouse. The mouse looked like he was trying to pick a fight, most likely because he was so scared. But Zeke was nowhere near intimidated. He was an all-around friendly mouse; that's why everyone liked him. "Hey, c'mon dude. No reason be scared. Take it weasy."

The mouse cocked his head in confusion at Zeke.

"Dis a nice house. Yup yup. We like it here." Zeke said.

the mouse glanced at the other mice hanging around the cage, then at Taylor who was watching from outside.

"Tay-Tay like you too. Evryone weal nice." Zeke added. He looked at the mouse calming down and nodded, leading him out. "See, dat all better. C'mon. Zu zu."

The mouse scratched his head as Zeke led him out. "Uh...zu zu." he nodded. "Zhu zhu pet."

The other mice laughed lightly and cheered as they two of them walked out into the open. The new mouse waved to them and stopped to look at Taylor. She cocked her head, trying to see if the shirt she had would fit him.

"Well...let's try it on and see how it looks." she offered as the mouse lifted his arms so she could put the shirt on. She slipped the tiny shirt on him and the mouse looked around himself. It had fit pretty comfortably. He then looked up as Taylor put a green hat on to match the yellow-green shirt of his. "It looks like a perfect fit." Taylor observed as the mouse fiddled with his hat like it was a new toy. "Now all you need is a name. How about...Octavius?"

The mouse twitched his nose and looked at Taylor as she suggested that.

Seeing his reaction wasn't overwhelmed, Taylor saw about coming up with a different one. "Well then, what about Jason? Nice and simple, right?"

Zeke nodded his head, thinking the name seemed to suit the new friend perfectly. "What you think, Jason? Eh...Jase Jase?"

He scratched his chin. "Uh...erm...Jay Jay." he repeated. Then he chuckled and clapped his hands. "Joe Joe!"

Zeke shook his head. "No no no. Jase Jase. Jase-un."

"Uh...uh Moo moo." he chuckled.

Zeke shook his head again. "No, you not a cow. You a mouse. Squeak squeak. Get it?"

He tilted his head. "Jasey Jay?"

Zeke shrugged his shoulders. "Cwose enough." he sighed.

"I've got to hurry." Taylor realized. She got up and started heading down the stairs. "Make sure to keep Jason out of trouble, Zeke." She briefly turned back to them, remembering one important detail. "And please, don't forget to warn him about the cat." Then she continued her way down the stairs in an effort to start the first of her many daily chores.

Zeke nodded and waved to her. "Yup yup, Tay-Tay. Zu zu." he nodded. He turned to Jason, who was still waving bye for the day. Now how to explain this to Jason...? Not that Jason seemed sumb, of course. But it would also be a bad idea to scare him so soon. "So Jase Jase, ever see cat cat?"

Jason thought for a minute. "Eh...cat cat?" he repeated, confused.

"Yup, cat cat." Zeke nodded. "Name Wyan." He slowly started circling Jason. "He vewy sneaky and he jump atcha! He go..." He started almost jumping at Jason like he was imitating the cat and Jason slowly backed to the edge of the stairs. "..Mousey! Mousey! Attack mouse! Wunchtime. I eat. Good food." Then he got on all fours and made such a squeaky meow that not only did his fur straighten up and his tail uncurl, but it made Jason fall. "MEOW! Meow meow meow!" Confused at where Jason went, Zeke got back up on his hind legs and looked for him. Finally seeing that Jason lost his balance and fell onto the next step, Zeke walked over and glanced at his new found friend. "Zu zu, Wyan. Get it?"

Jason poked his head up at Zeke. "Uh...erm Wyan." he repeated. "Yup yup. I gotcha." he nodded, giving a thumbs up.

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And there we have it, the first official chapter done. Aside from Taylor, we've met Zeke, Jason, and very briefly Martha. As far as the birds go, I thought it'd be kind of cute to try and make them like some of the background characters in HSM. Like in "Stick to the Status Quo" how there were all those different groups merging together...hence also where Skater and Crony came from, since I never caught their names either. Now as for Zeke I kept jumping back and forth between making him and Troy the Jaq in this story. I had been thinking Troy because he is like the leader in HSM so why not make him Jaq? But either way, Jason was going to end up as the Gus (yes, I will admit I had some help with that). So really, it made more sense to do Zeke than Troy. And Martha is the main female mouse, who I'm fairly certain her name in Cinderella is Mary. My other idea was Gabriella, but then I got a different idea for Gabriella that's kind of random but really, some of the characters in my last story were on the random side too and hopefully those worked well (I'm assuming that if they didn't then not as many people would have read the story) so I'm aiming for the same thing here. And with the mouse voices, I wanted to keep them the same. I wanted them to sound like the mouse voices but also use the speech that you'd expect Zeke or Jason to use.I'm planning on bringing out more of the real Zeke soon, but i think we all got a feel of the real Jason here. Had to make him funny. And for the zhu zhu pets joke...well I kept hearing the mice say 'zu' or something like that, like it was another way of saying yes and...alright, it was the perfect joke so i couldn't resist. Only Jason could make that seem funny. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter and you will meet a couple more characters soon. And i think you all have a pretty good idea who's coming next. 0=) Can't wait to hear what you all think!


	3. Chapter 2

Looks like the last chapter went over really well. So to all those of you who reviewed, hit, read, etc, thank you. I'm glad you're all enjoying it. Now, i was going to update last night...but i kinda got a little distracted. xD Cartoon watching with my dad. anyway, as far as i know this will be the only update for this weekend. It's not much but i'm hoping it'll add to the good start...and you'll get to officially meet a couple more characters. So everyone, enjoy! ^^  
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or movies.

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Taylor entered the main hallway downstairs not too much longer later. The faint sounds of snoring could easily be heard from the three closed doors across from the curtains she'd have to open. It was just orders; Taylor always had to be the first one awake in the house. On the bright side, however, most of her morning chores were far easier than her afternoon ones. At least then, the step family wasn't awake to order her around. What else was a girl to do?

Approaching the lavish curtains, only one of the many things the family had wasted their money on, Taylor pulled on the string and slowly opened them, allowing the light to shine through the dreaded halls. Taking a mere brief moment to straighten them out, she then turned on her heel and approached one of the three doors. The first two, closer to where her tower was, belonged to her stepsisters. The room that Taylor needed to go to was her stepmother's. But not for the stepmother. Taylor placed her hand on the door handle and slowly opened the door, careful not to let too much light in at once or disturb the guardian of the household. But as she opened the door, the light didn't hit the stepmother's bed. It hit a much smaller, circular bed beside it. The small bed didn't look like it was for any person. As a matter of fact, with its overuse of boys and curtains, it was for their pet cat. From the doorway, Taylor could see the cat snoozing away in his comfortable little bed. Yes, it was the same cat she had reminded Zeke to warn Jason about. None other than Ryan.

The cat was only barely on the fatter side; that was because he just loved to eat so much, and Taylor knew first hand. He had a lot of fur, most likely resembling a dirty blond shade. And of course, the family cat wouldn't be complete without his own hat. The stepmother had always wanted to buy him new hats. And the cat never seemed to mind at all; as a matter of fact, he loved his hats.

Ryan twitched in his sleep a little, feeling the light emitting from the doorway and hitting his was disturbing him in the middle of his sleep? He was having such a nice dream, too. He had been dreaming about getting fed gourmet food in his very own hats. Yes, even the cat had dreams. Not like they mattered at all, no one in the house spoke cat. Such a shame when Ryan might as well have had so much to say. Ryan slowly opened one eye, his green pupils falling on Taylor in the doorway. It was morning already? Dang, why did he always have to get up first? Stupid rules. He wanted to go back to sleep like all the normal cats.

Taylor quietly gestured for Ryan to come over. "Here kitty, kitty, kitty." she whispered. Oh sure, Ryan was no kitty anymore with the way he ate.

Ryan lazily yawned and stretched, his tiny claws barely scratching his cat bed. He stood up on all fours and eyed Taylor.

"Come on Ryan." she whispered again.

Ryan glared at her. As much as he loved breakfast time, he loved sleep just a little more. Hey, he was a cat, what else did you expect? Ryan turned around so his back was facing her, and then he stubbornly lat back down curled up as a little fluffy ball.

But Taylor wasn't going to stand for this. In his own lazy way, Ryan made things just as hard for her. And especially at this hour, there was no way she was going to stand for it. Taylor put a hand on her hip and held her ground, attempting to show Ryan who was in charge...for the time being.

"Ryan, come here." she scolded.

Ryan nearly jumped at the sternness of her voice. Rolling his eyes, he jumped off the bed but took his sweet time walking over to Taylor. He didn't just walk over, he strutted over with his head high and his tail straight in the air. Walking out of the room at last, he briefly glared at Taylor before yawning and stretching once again, letting his claws scratch against the floor.

Taylor couldn't help but roll her eyes as she closed the door, snapping Ryan out of it and getting him to stand up straight. She started making her way over to the staircase with Ryan strutting right behind her like he was all high and mighty. Of course what neither of them knew was, out from one of the mouse holes by the bedroom doors, popped out Jason and Zeke watching them.

"I'm sorry if your highness objects to an early breakfast," Taylor told Ryan, making sure to use a hint of sarcasm, "but it's certainly not my idea to feed you first. It's orders." She shrugged her shoulders, then signalled for the cat to follow her downstairs.

Jason chuckled once Taylor and Ryan were out of sight. He attempted to swing his hips - or rather what ended up doing, shake his butt - like Ryan had when he walked. "Ooh...Wyan. Dat Wyan, isn't it?" he asked Zeke.

"Yup yup." Zeke nodded, pointing down the stairs where Ryan had gone. "Wyan. Dat him."

Jason burst out laughing even harder, trying to hold his stomach. "Wyan not so tough. Jay Jay wip off Wyan's riskers." Then he pretended to pull on one of his own whiskers...only ended up nearly ripping it off instead. "Owie!"

Zeke grabbed Jason's tail and pulled him back over so he wouldn't go anywhere. "No, Jase Jase no do." he shook his head. "Looky here. Wyan no push over." He paused a minute and scratched his chin. "Ok, Wyan cwazy cat. But Wyan also mean. Very mean."

---

Opening the back door to the kitchen, Taylor went into the room followed by Ryan. It was pretty much in as much disrepair as her own room. She was the only one who even used the kitchen, since the rest of her family refused to even set foot in there. There wasn't even a lot in there. Just some china, a small stove, food, and a backdoor leading to the chickens and horse. And well, of course one other minor family member. So be the reason why Ryan stepped so cautiously into the room and hissed as soon as his eyes fell on him. Laying down on the floor with nothing but a small rug, was a dark brown dog just smaller than Ryan. Judging from his looks, it was a Bloodhound. Most of his fur was dark brown, but his snout and stomach were more of a black shade. The dog was fidgeting greatly in his sleep, moving his legs all around as though he were running. He twitched and growled a little, most likely in the middle of a dream of his own.

Taylor walked over to the back door and opened the top half of it to shed some more light in. She turned around and looked over at the supposed crazy dog. It was no surprise to her he was like this; it was the same thing every morning.

"Donny..." she whispered.

The dog whined a little but continued acting like he was running in his dream.

"Donny..." Taylor whispered again, a little louder.

The dog then sat up, still looking asleep, and grabbed his run with his mouth, tugging on it. But slowly enough, he eased up and his eyes fluttered open just a little. He slowly put the rug down and looked around, his eyes still droopy. He turned his head and saw Taylor now sitting beside him. He yawned and turned to face her, looking much more peaceful than he did in his sleep.

Taylor lightly pet Donny on his head. She knew exactly what was going on with her friend. "Dreaming again aren't you?" she guessed. "Chasing Ryan?"

Donny nodded eagerly, panting with contentment.

"Did you catch him this time?" she asked.

He replied with a happy nod.

"That's bad." Taylor replied, which caused Donny to look at her wide-eyed. And in the background, Ryan couldn't help but snicker to himself. That's right, Donny had asked for it. Served him right for dreaming about chasing him around and then doing who knows what to his special kitty bed and his cherished hats.

"Besides, you wouldn't want everyone upstairs to find out." Taylor added as she went about setting some logs on the stove to start the fire. "It's only orders. And if you want to keep a nice warm bed, you really should get rid of those dreams." She knew Donny didn't like hearing it, nor did she enjoy telling him to get rid of her dreams. It was completely hypocritical that Taylor could keep on dreaming but her own dog had to give up on his. But on the other hand, it was only for his own good. Donny could be kicked out of the house. Taylor couldn't...well, not if they wanted someone to do all their chores and such, anyway. And she could only imagine what they'd do to Donny if they caught him making trouble with Ryan. Donny could get sent out on the streets or taken away to the pound or something. And unfortunately, the only way of stopping that was...well, the one thing that Donny never liked to hear.

"Do you know how you can do that?" Taylor inquired as she went over to the table to set up the trays of hot water, plates, and cups to bring up to her family.

Donny shook his head and looked at her hopefully. Maybe he'd get a different answer this time.

No such luck. "Just learn to like cats."

Donny twitched and must have bit his tongue upon hearing that. He held in a growl and watched as Ryan pretended to play nice, cuddling up to Donny and almost wagging his tail like a dog's.

"No, I mean it." Taylor shook her head. "Ryan has his good points, too. For one thing, he...." Taylor paused and held onto the cups as she attempted to figure out a positive quality of Ryan's.

Ryan sat down next to Donny innocently, awaiting to hear what wonderful qualities he had, while Donny looked at Taylor curiously. Ryan couldn't help but smirk. He knew he had plenty of good points. All she had to do was talk about what a good little kitty he was and what a joy it was to take care of him. And of course how cooperative he was and what a joy it was to have such a loyal animal under the roof. And of course let's not forget what wonderful taste in kitty hats he had.

Yet absolutely none of those came to Taylor's mind. "Well, sometimes he...."

Donny backed away slightly from Donny, knowing the cat wasn't going to get anything good. Ryan continued to wait patiently. He glanced briefly at Taylor, wondering what was taking her so long to give him all the wonderful compliments.

Taylor briefly looked at Ryan, cocking an eyebrow. "There must be something good about him." she said before continuing to set everything up.

Ryan's eyes widened as he glared at her. How dare she not think of anything less than wonderful to say about him! Who did she think she was?

Donny burst out laughing his little doggy laugh at Taylor's response. She hit the nail right on the head. Boy, did that cat take after the step family.

Let's just say that was an understatement. When he wanted to, Ryan could be just as scheming. He'd show them for insulting his excellence. As Donny laughed, Ryan got down on his back and crawled under Donny's snout. He pulled out his claws and held his paw up to Donny's face. He pretended to scratch Donny's face, though his claws barely brushed up against him. But that didn't stop Donny's reaction; he had felt something hit him and he knew it was the cat. Letting his instincts take over, he jumped up on all fours and got on top of Ryan, growling angrily at him. Ryan took that opportunity to meow in pain, acting like Donny had hurt him instead of the other way around.

Taylor whirled around in shock. "Donny!" she gasped.

Donny sat back down, instantly regretting his reaction. Taylor walked over with the bowl of milk she had set up for Ryan.

"Oh, Donny." she sighed. She gently led him over to the door. "Come on, boy. Let's go outside." She opened the bottom half the door, letting Donny wander out among the chickens in the yard. But Taylor sympathized with him, knowing it wasn't easy at all. "I know it's hard, Donny, but at least we should all try to get along." She then glared at Ryan, who was sitting by her side like he was the most loyal cat on the planet. Taylor put a hand on her hip and nearly dropped his bowl on purpose in front of him. Ryan jumped back as some of the milk nearly splashed him. So Taylor knew that it was Ryan's doing all along.... Oh, she was good!

"And that includes, you, your majesty." she added ever so sarcastically. Taylor then slipped on a bigger pair of shoes, which she used to get around the yard, and then picked up as much breakfast as she could in her apron, and took it out to begin feeding the chickens.

And Ryan just lay down in front of his bowl, twirling his paws in the milk as he angrily watched her head outside to continue her duties.

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I know, not a very long chapter. I cut it here so then the next chapter can be about the mice trying to get their breakfast. And don't worry, it's only a matter of time before you officially get to meet the evil step family. Anyway in this chapter, we've officially met Ryan and Donny. I was trying to keep Ryan the perfect combination as himself and the cat Lucifer. Give him Ryan's looks and love for hats, but keep Lucifer's eyes. And as for personality, Ryan's related to Sharpay so that's where the scheming comes in, much similar to how it did in the movie with Lucifer. And also make him a bit stuck up and all that like Lucifer. As for the sense of humor that Ryan brings into the HSM movies, you'll see that soon enough. As you can see, I also made a few changes to the dog. Donny is portraying Bruno, but I'm making him more of a puppy (after all, Ryan is technically older than Donny so why have Donny be like a big dog and Ryan be a small cat compared to him?). Donny's mostly taking after Bruno in here. anyway, can't wait to hear from you guys on what you think. I'm hoping to work on this story all through the rest of this month and if it can be done by my birthday next month i can then start another story. ^^ And i can already tell you this, when Princess and the Frog comes to DVD i'm so writing that as a crossover (it was a really good movie, by the way. 2D animation, that's where the magic is!).


	4. Chapter 3

Alright this is my last week before starting school again so I wanna make it really good and try and get a chapter up a day. This chapter might be a little slow, as you don't really meet any other characters in here, but you will get a glimpse of one of them. I also want to thank everyone who reviewed, hit, etc to this story. I'm glad you guys are enjoying this and that's all I can really do. So let's move on to those cute little mice, shall we?  
Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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"Breakfast time! Everybody out!" Taylor called. "Breakfast, you guys."

Zeke, Jason, and three of their little mice friends poked their heads out one of the windows the second they heard the word 'breakfast'. They sniffed the air of fresh cheese crumbs and their eyes lit up. In the yard the mice could see a large group of chickens happily flying out of their coops and over to Taylor as she handed out the breakfast. the feathered creatures didn't waste any time before scratching and pecking at the ground as they tried grabbing their share before any other visitors...mainly the mice. It was this time of the morning that things tended to get a little short of hectic. And it was about to be revealed why.

"C'mon guys guys! Breakfy time! I'm starving!" Zeke exclaimed as he was the first to turn around and head into the kitchen through their mouse holes. Three of the mice shortly followed, but Jason poked his head out the window again.

"Breakfy?" he asked.

Seeing that Jason wasn't with them so quickly, Zeke quickly turned around to bring Jason with them. "C'mon, Jase Jase! Breakfy time."

"Breakfy?" Jason repeated, confused. He scratched his head as Zeke lightly pulled on his arm, signalling Jason to follow him. Then Jason chuckled with content. "Oooh, breakfy!"

The small group eagerly began making their way through the mouse hole down to the kitchen. The jumped from one ledge to another, swung down from nails in the walls, even slid down mini ramps. It was no time at all before they were at the hole that led to the kitchen. Making his way to the front again, Zeke was the first one out. He was more than happy to head out and grab some food...but then he saw one little problem. Or rather, one big problem that had him stopping dead in his tracks. Zeke's mouth dropped open, but he quickly snapped out of his thoughts when the rest of his comrades ran right into him, almost creating a row of mouse dominoes.

"It Wyan!" Zeke gasped, seeing Ryan laying at his milk bowl facing the door.

"How we gonna get out?" one of the mice ask.

"We gotta bwainstorm. C'mon." Zeke replied, rushing back into the hole.

The other mice followed, though Jason, not realizing what was going on, almost walked right over to Ryan just to try and get out the door. Luckily before he could get very far, Zeke pulled him back into the mouse hole.

"Sh, sh. Carefy." Zeke said quietly, warning the group to be careful as they pulled Jason in. They couldn't risk Ryan hearing them, especially this early. Then they'd never get breakfast. Zeke took a moment to twitch his nose and think, so he could come up with a good idea. There had to be some way to lose Ryan. Now there were plenty of holes in the walls...Ryan was way too big to fit through any of them...and they all had to get breakfast somehow.... That was it! Zeke turned to his friends. "Listen guys. I gotta idea. Now somebody gotta sneak out..." he pointed out the hole and over to Ryan, "get Wyan's tention, run over to corner..." he pointed to a corner not too far from their hole where there was a broom and a hole in the wall the the right and left of it, "...and keep em dere. And we all run out. Got it?"

This was why Zeke was the leader. He always had the best plans. It was just a shame that they had to revolve around food so much. The mice happily agreed.

"Yup yup. Yup." they all nodded.

"Now we choose da one to do it." Zeke told them. "And a hup!" He jumped and spun around so his tail was facing the mice.

"Hup!" the other three agreed, jumping around so their tails faced Zeke's.

It took a moment for Jason to catch on, but he quickly did the same. "Eh...hup!"

"Ready...hup!" Zeke said, taking a jump back.

"Hup!" the three mice said, jumping back as well so now their tails were intertwined with Zeke's.

"Hup!" Jason finished, doing the same.

Zeke then closed his eyes, covering his eyes with one of his hands as an extra precaution, and held onto the edge of one of the tails. As soon as he gave the word, the other mice started jumping away. That meant who's ever tail Zeke was holding would be the one to distract Ryan...and also the one who wouldn't be able to jump away. But as soon as they had jumped, Zeke tugged on the tail. It wasn't what he was expecting; there was no 'eep' or response from any of his friends. He just felt his tail get pulled on. Something wasn't right here.... He pulled the tail again but it was the same thing. Now why would it feel like his tail was the one being pulled? There was no way that he could have chosen himself. That was just asking for trouble. Zeke slowly opened his eyes...only to see that he was holding his own tail. His face fell immediately. He jumped and turned to see Jason eagerly shaking Zeke's hand. New guy had to be glad it wasn't him. Zeke turned to look at the other three. Two of them slowly removed their hats like they were saluting someone, and the third gulped and started waving bye to Zeke. It just goes to show how much confidence they had in him. Zeke tried his best to hold in a smile as he waved to his fellow mice, but his expression kept falling. He turned to the mouse hole. There was no sense in worrying when he didn't even start going after Ryan yet. Putting on his toughest face, Zeke proudly walked out into the kitchen. It was all or nothing now.

Zeke started by leaning up against the wall and slowly tiptoeing closer. Even he knew to be careful at a time like this. Zeke saw that Ryan was still enjoying his bowl of milk, but the cat was about to get a very bad wake-up call. Zeke quickly ducked behind one of the barrels to be on the safe side, then poked his head out to make sure he wasn't seen. So far so good. Waiting in anticipation, his mice friends poked their heads out of the hole and watched to see what the next move would be.

Zeke continued to tiptoe, becoming even more quiet and cautious now that he was out in the open. The closer he got to Ryan, the faster he moved. He could still feel the eyes of his friends on him, waiting eagerly to see when they could get their food. Oh, and if Zeke would be alright of course. Ducking behind Ryan once he was there, Zeke waited a moment before going a little closer to see what exactly the cat was doing. raising his head, Zeke took note of how Ryan was enjoying his own breakfast. Ryan had only stuck one of his claws in the milk, then raised it to his mouth, and let the drop of milk hanging from his claw drip onto his tongue. Zeke couldn't help but almost roll his eyes. What a drama queen. Now if it were a girl cat...well, needless to say that might make him a little more drawn to her. Oh, and if she was pink. Not exactly something Zeke was proud to admit, which is why he never did. Including right now, because that was the last thing on his mind.

Now standing next to Ryan's front leg, and luckily not noticed by Ryan, Zeke briefly glanced over to his friends. He waved his hand to get their attention. They responded with wide eyes, wondering what he was planning. Zeke first pointed to Ryan's leg, then at his foot. Zeke's next move was jumping back a little, raising his foot almost as though he wre going to kick Ryan in the leg. But he wasn't doing anything yet; he first needed the approval of the guys. While Jason didn't quite understand Zeke's gestures, the other three nodded eagerly. Well of course they were eager, they were eager to get some food already. Finally understanding what was happening a moment later, Jason let out a little laugh. The other three quickly shushed him by covering his mouth. With everything completely quiet now, that was Zeke's chance. He raised his foot and jumped back a little more, only before running back to Ryan's leg and kicking it hard.

The cat gasped in horror as he lost his balance somehow and fell face first into the milk bowl. He sat up, his entire face wet with the white substance. Ryan tried his best to shake the milk off. What the heck happened? Who interrupted his breakfast? What time was it? Was it the Kutcher's cat Ashton from down the street? But as soon as Ryan opened his eyes to see what was going on, he jumped back and meowed loudly, only to have more milk squirted at him. That was, you guessed it, courtesy of Zeke. The mouse had been running on the small puddle of milk on the kitchen floor like it was a treadmill, easily getting more milk on Ryan. Zeke chuckled before starting to make a run for it. Ryan raised his paw to catch the mouse, but he had only slashed at the air. Ryan blinked, wondering what had happened. He looked around like Zeke pulled a Houdini, only to moments later see Zeke running around the kitchen. Meowing once more, Ryan started chasing after him. They ran around the table, under the table, and around the table legs, before Zeke finally led Ryan to the corner that he had planned would keep Ryan busy. Zeke smirked lightly and jumped into the hole closer to the corner, and Ryan pounced at it before actively slashing at it, doing everything he could to catch the trouble making mouse. Out from the hole in the wall, on the other side of the broom nearby, Zeke poked his head out. He looked over to where his friends were and waved his hat, signalling them that the coast was clear. Seeing Zeke's signal, the group then made their way out of the kitchen. Zeke held up a victory sign, knowing he did good this morning, and Jason waved happily to his friend as he followed the three out.

The mice traveled through the back, making sure to hide behind anything possible such as the wheelbarrow, as to not be seen by the chickens. Those feathered guys could get real defensive over their breakfast. It didn't take them very long, as before they knew it they could see Taylor continuing to feed the chickens. She was humming to herself as she did so, even looking over to the family horse Jimmie, who had been there since before the step family was even in the picture. A very messy mane and a grayish body, but more than happy to accept some of the breakfast from Taylor that so rightfully belonged to the chickens. Not like any of the chickens could do anything about it, they stood no chance against a horse. But now the mice had their chance. The chickens might be able to stop them from eating, and Jimmie may only have been temporarily out of his stable, but there was no way that Taylor could refuse the mice some food. The four of them began jumping around, calling her name to try and get her attention. Hearing the tiny voices, Taylor turned away briefly from her steed and looked down at the hungry rodents.

"There you guys are." she said. Taylor should have expected it as much that they'd be out any time soon. It wasn't like any of them to miss breakfast. "I was wondering." Deciding not to keep them waiting any longer, she took a handful of cheese crumbs from her apron and lightly tossed them onto the ground for the mice to grab. "Breakfast is served."

The three mice only grabbed a few cheese crumbs and were able to get out of there quickly before the chickens had their say. As a matter of fact, in no time at all they were making their way back into the kitchen. But Jason had some complications. Before he could even grab one, the chickens were pecking at the ground and doing everything they could to eat before Jason. It was their food and no mouse could take that away from them. They surrounded the area, grabbing seemingly every last crumb. But Jason still had a chance. He almost had one, but one of the enemies was too fast for him. Luckily, with another crumb right nearby, Jason picked it up before anyone else. He turned around only to be met by a very angry chicken who had its eye on that crumb.

"Take it weasy." Jason said, trying to push the chicken's face away from him. "My breakfy, cluck cluck." he told the chicken before trying to make a run for it.

But the chicken was just a little too smart for Jason. It put its foot over his tail, causing Jason to trip and lose the crumb. The crumb fell in front of one of the other chickens, which grabbed it first. Jason gasped and grabbed the crumb while it was still in the chicken's mouth.

"Let go! My breakfy! Let go!" he insisted.

The chicken shook its head, so much in fact, that Jason was losing his grip fast. The next thing Jason knew, he fell down from the chickens mouth and the chicken happily swallowed the crumb. Then it and the other chickens turned when they heard a 'shoo'. The chickens quickly made a run for it, leaving Jason stumbling on the ground. He curled up in a ball as the last of the feathered enemies jumped over him. Once the coast was clear, he slowly picked his head up to see that there were no more feathers and no more food. But then Jason turned his head and saw Taylor right over him.

"Poor little guy. You've got to be famished." she realized. Taking a small handful, she knelt down and lightly dropped some of them in front of Jason - more than enough for one mouse. "Help yourself. It's all yours." she told Jason, knowing that now nothing could deny him of breakfast. And Jason, more than thrilled, licked his lips and picked up as many as he could, stacking them in his hands.

In the meantime, the remaining mice slowly looked into the kitchen, wondering if it was safe to go back in. They almost walked in, then ducked back behind the doorway. Inside, by that corner, they saw Ryan watching the hole that Zeke ran into very carefully. His eyes were on the further hole, as opposed to the one over him where Zeke was currently hiding. From that place, Zeke could see his friends returning with food. Time to pull the show stopper. He took the hat off his head and stuck it on his tail. He then moved his tail to the lower hole and wiggled it into the open so Ryan could see the hat. Assuming that it was indeed the mouse, Ryan's eyes lit up with excitement. It looked like he'd be getting a little mid-morning snack. Licking his lips once more, he then charged at the hole and started scratching at it the second Zeke pulled his tail back in, just like he did before. Zeke held in a chuckle as he watched the silly cat. He then look out of his hole to his friends and pointed to the hole from whence they came, signalling that he had Ryan under control. The mice replied by running across the kitchen to their safe haven. Jason waddled behind with so many crumbs that they were going from his hands to right under his chin, and that's how he was holding them. As the mice ran, the littlest one found that he was losing his grip on one of the crumbs. It ended up falling to the floor and, while he did briefly try to get it, he realized that there wasn't enough time and it was too risky to do so. He quickly followed the other mice back into the hole.

But Jason had other plans. He was a hungry mouse and there was no sense in letting food go to waste. Seeing the crumb, he put his pile on top of that. He tried his best to reach so the stack would reach from his chin to his hands again, but he was now carrying one crumb too many. His hands just couldn't reach that far down. As soon as he tried that and then to pick them up, the food fell all over to place with some tumbles.

Ryan's ears twitched, thinking he heard something. He stopped scratching at the empty hole in the wall and turned around. He watched as Jason started to grab all the cheese crumbs again as fast as he could. Zeke caught was was happening as well. His mouth dropped while a huge grin slipped across Ryan's face. Zeke had to distract Ryan somehow. He was an easy cat to distract. He got distracted at hats, for crying out loud! Zeke put his hat back on his tail and wiggled it directly in front of Ryan's face again, but the grin on the cat only grew. It was evident that he had his eyes on the poor defenseless mouse as opposed to the sly hiding one. Ryan took one step forward and Zeke took a desperate last attempt. He grabbed on Ryan's whisker and pulled as hard as he could to get the cat to stay. He pulled so hard in fact, that the whisker was tugged right off the cat's face. Ryan flinched for a millisecond, but moved on forward.

Jason had now grabbed the last of the crumbs. He stood up, trying desperately to hold the stack together in between his hands and chin, but it ended worse this time. It practically exploded in his face, all of the crumbs brushing up against his chin and falling onto the floor like they fell from the sky. Ryan moved onward towards the mouse, and Zeke tried one final attempt while he had the chance. He grabbed onto Ryan's tail, but instead of being dragged away by the cat, he fell back into the hole, taking some of Ryan's fur with him. Zeke quickly poked his head out of the hole again.

Jason was now grabbing the last of the food. He tried reaching for the bottom again, but finally got the hint it wasn't going to work. There had to be another way. Maybe if he used his two big mouse teeth to hold the crumbs then that would reach down to his hands.... Nah, that only worked in cartoons. He tried the same attempt again, and it only worked for a second longer. He turned around quickly and came face to face with Ryan. In the same second, the cheese...well, you get the idea what happened. They all fell down again. Ryan jumped back slightly as some of the cheese hit his face. He quickly rubbed his nose, then got in a pouncing position down at Jason just as the mouse was about to try one last time to take all the crumbs. But then, once again, Jason found himself face to face with the cat. Ryan let out a loud meow, which from Jason's point was more like a loud roar. Jason screamed and jumped back around to try running, but it was no use. Ryan had already put his paw down on Jason's tail. The cat wasn't as clueless as everyone thought.

Or maybe he was. Ryan was about to raise his paw on Jason, but Ryan had forgotten that right behind him leaning up against the wall was Taylor's broom. Luckily, Zeke had realized that. As fast as he could and with all his might, Zeke quickly pushed the broom down, which slammed right onto Ryan's head. Zeke only caught a little glimpse of Jason running away after that, as he was now hanging from the hole and his hat was covering his vision.

Ryan slowly sat up, trying to regain his own vision. Right now his eyes were like the googly eyes that wouldn't stop spinning. His hat was all crooked on his head, and all he could see were little mice running around his head yelling 'quack'. Those stupid hallucinations.

Zeke sat at the edge of the mouse hole after adjusting his hat so he could get a better view. "Hm...no Jase Jase." he noticed. That had to be a good thing. If Zeke couldn't see Jason from where he was then there was no way Ryan could find him. "Guess he got away." With that, he turned and crawled back into the hole to join his companions.

But Ryan hadn't got the message. That rascal still had to be around here somewhere. Where the heck did he run off to? He looked all around him...under his paws...under his body...behind him...even went so far as to trying to dig through his own fur to find Jason. But nothing. Where was that mid-morning snack?

Finally, picking his head up, Ryan could see a shadow crawling up the table cloth where the step family's trays rested. Ryan couldn't make it out at first. Maybe it was a bug to steal the breakfast. But wait a minute...it was a fat-ish bug. With a long skinny tail. Bugs didn't look like that...did they? No, of course not! Realizing that it had to be Jason, Ryan started panting like a dog. He crept over to the table and slowly picked his head up to the table's eye level, only to see Jason resting against one of the cups trying to catch his breath. Poor guy was so beat that he was even trying to fan himself with his own hat to cool down. Ryan smirked. There was no getting away now. But now to catch a mouse.... Oh yeah, the tea cups! Grabbing the one Jason was leaning up against with his paw, Ryan watched as Jason fell backwards and then slammed the tea cup down over the defenseless creature. He even put his two paws over the cup so Jason couldn't get out. Just as Ryan was about to open up the tea cup and grab Ryan with his free paw....

"TAYLOR!"

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Sorry to leave you at the edge of your seats like that, wondering if Ryan will catch Jason or not, but it had to be done. I wasn't going to overdo it in one chapter going from the mice trying to get breakfast right to the next scene. That can wait until tomorrow. 0=) anyway, i hope you all have enjoyed this crazy little chapter. I was trying to Jason-up Gus a bit so he'd be a little more clumsy but in a funny manner like you'd expect Jason to be. And hopefully you guys have noticed that I didn't make Ryan totally evil like Lucifer. Ok, he has to be some kind of evil...but more like a crazy clueless kind and that's what I was going for. And as you can see, you also briefly met Jimmie. Yes, he's the horse again. lol I think it's starting to become a little joke that Jimmie ends up as the horse. Watch, if I do Aladdin he'll end up as a camel...or Abu. unless someone else is Abu. XD That's all besides the point. The important thing is that you had fun with this chapter and you can't wait to see what happens next. Actually I can't wait either, because that's when you officially get to meet the step family. I'm hoping that by the end of this week I'll be up to chapter 7. I make no promises about the weekend, because it's the last point before school starts and i've already made plans. But I've got Mondays off so that means by then it'll probably be up to chapter 8. XD I can't wait to hear from you guys, and don't forget to read all the other wonderful stories out there. And see if there's anything good on TV, that's very important. Oooh, and always remember to...you know what, just get out now while you have the chance before I do some more mindless blabbing.


	5. Chapter 4

Here is the chapter you guys have been waiting for! Will Ryan catch Jason? Who is calling Taylor? Who for sure is the evil stepsisters? Who is the evil stepmother? Well, you're about to find out in this chapter. But don't worry, I promise the stepsisters won't be 'ugly' like they are in the actual Cinderella. 0=) But before we start, I think now would be a good time to officially say thank you to all that reviewed. So thanks to Actingprincess, Rockyshadow, Chaylorfan4eve1995, Ambinlovewlove, MermaidRam85, chaylorxtraylorlover101, HeartsWereNeverMeantToRace, and WhyDoesItHaveToRainOnMyParade. Also, MermaidRam has put in her Little Mermaid story to check this story out, so I feel like I should return the favor. If you guys haven't read it, when you're done here please go check out her The little Mermaid: HSM Style. Now, onto the story!  
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, the stories, the movies, nothing.

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Ryan's head snapped up as he heard an incessant bell ringing followed by a woman's voice yelling, "TAYLOR!" Ryan turned to the wall by the hallway which had three bells on it, one for each of the step family's members. It was the one all the way at the end that was ringing. Ryan attempted to go in to get the mouse again, but was stopped when he heard Taylor's glanced in the direction of the door to see her walking in from outside.

"Alright, alright. I'm coming." Taylor sighed as she entered the kitchen. She slipped off the extra pair of shoes and took off the bandanna she'd slipped onto her head and hung them up. What she had really wanted to say was something along the lines of, 'alright, alright, I'm coming you spoiled little brats'. But there's no way she'd get away with saying something like that, whether it was to their faces or to herself. But one thing she was allowed to say to herself, mainly because they couldn't hear her from all the way upstairs was, "Oh boy, usual mornings. They're so impatient."

Ryan gasped and jumped down and away from the table as Taylor headed over with the extra plates, adding them to each of the step family's trays.

Then the same bell rang even more and louder followed by the same annoyed voice. "TAYLOR!!!"

"I'm coming, I'll be right up." Taylor replied, holding in a sigh. She went over to the stove and went about pouring their breakfast into their bowls.

In the meantime, Ryan had ducked under the table for safe keeping. He poked his head out once he saw Taylor walk away, then jumped back up to the table top. Yes, he had Jason now! But wait a minute...now all three of the cups were upside-down on the trays! Which one had he hid Jason under? It had to be one of these cups...on a tray...on the table...somewhere. Dang, where did he put that stupid mouse? As the bell continued ringing, followed by another one of the three bells, Ryan began doing eeny-meeny-miney-mo to figure out which cup Jason was under. After all, that was the easiest way to figure something out. His paw landed on the one to his left and he lifted it up...nothing. Ok so then that could only mean that Ryan was under the middle one. Lifting up the cup, Ryan was shocked to find another empty plate beneath the cup. Turning to the last cup, Ryan licked his lips and reached to pick it up until there was another yelling....

"TAYLOR!!!"

Ryan gasped and ducked back under the table.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Taylor called back as she placed the breakfast on the trays. She then quickly went to get the hot drinks that were awaiting the step family and quickly poured as much an equal amount as possible into each of the little teapots on the trays. She fought the urge to do something to their drinks like spit in them or something, but that was just too dirty. That'd be stooping right down to their level. Plus, there wasn't a moment to lose. As soon as the last of the drink was poured, she put the kettle down and picked up each of the trays before turning and making her way out of the kitchen.

"TAYLOR!!!" one of the stepsisters called angrily, now with all three of the bells ringing.

"In a minute." Taylor sighed as she carefully made her way into the hall, trying not to end up spilling anything.

Ryan smiled once he heard that. He saw Taylor spin around to leave, but not with the trays. Assuming they were still on the table, Ryan jumped up to grab them again. But...hey wait a minute! There were no trays on the table! There weren't even any tea cups! Where did they go? They had to be somewhere on this table, Ryan just knew it. He felt all around the table, trying to see if they shrunk somehow or something. He didn't care, he just wanted that stupid mouse. Looking all around the kitchen, he finally saw Taylor exited the kitchen ever so carefully with not just the trays in her hands, but more like a tray on each hand and balancing the third on her head. Oh man, now why couldn't Ryan do a cool trick like that? Sometimes he could barely keep his own hat on his head. Hey wait a minute, what was he saying? One of those trays had the mouse in it! He quickly tried to follow behind Taylor, watching her every move.

Taylor started heading up the staircase to her step family, walking just like she would anywhere else. After years of practice with these trays, she had gotten the hang of it pretty well. With the exception of getting started, of course. Every morning she'd always have to start out slow before heading at a normal speed. What she didn't realize was that Jason was still hiding under one of those cups. From the cup on the tray closest to the banister, Jason slowly lifted the cup and walked around. He wasn't in the kitchen anymore. He didn't even know where he was going. Oh man, this couldn't be good.

But to Ryan, it was very good. There was his little snack. smirking, he crept up the stairs just past Taylor, then ducked behind the banister at the top of the staircase. He watched as the tray approached him, just waiting to give him his snack. Ryan ducked behind the banister so he could stay hidden and grab it at a moment's notice.

Too bad that wasn't going to happen. Just before reaching the top of the staircase where Ryan was waiting, Taylor felt one of her shoes slip off. Moving even slower than before, she turned and just enough of an angle to the tray in her opposite hand was facing the banister instead of the tray Jason was hiding in. But Ryan, still thinking he'd seen the same tray, reached out for the cup when Taylor wasn't looking to grab Jason. To his surprise, he wasn't under there. But he saw Jason, he knew he did! He hadn't been going crazy had he? Something wasn't right here! But as soon as he saw Taylor turn back around, now having her shoe safely back on, he ducked back behind the banister and watched as Taylor made her way to the first of the step family. It was the room closest to the staircase and the room of the younger stepsister.

Opening the door with her foot, Taylor walked in sideways as she continued to balance out all the breakfast trays. As much as she hated her step family, Taylor knew very well that she had to keep the best of personalities even around them. Too bad that it was the younger stepsister that was the crankiest sometimes. It went back and forth. Taylor was assuming that it was this sister's turn to be cranky and...well, more annoying than usual.

"Good morning, Tiara."

Ryan went over to the door and waited behind it. He was assuming that he'd hear a scream from in there. As soon as he did, he'd be right there to catch that mouse. But instead of a scream, or a mouse's squeak, he heard the stepsister.

"What's so good about it?" Tiara retorted like they were in an argument, with her light British accent. Yes, British. Taylor had learned early on that it was something from the father's side of the family. He was probably British or something. She wondered where both girls got their sparkling personalities from...note the sarcasm, by the way. "Take this laundry and have it back in an hour, exactly. Did you get that, one hour!" she continued.

"Yes, Tiara." Taylor replied as she still held in a sigh. She walked out of the room, closing the door with her foot and holding Tiara's laundry basket between her waist and her free hand, with the other two trays still in her hand and head.

Ryan looked over to the room, but didn't even get a chance to peak inside because the door closed right on his face. He rubbed his nose and pressed his ear to the door. Maybe he'd missed it. Maybe she didn't see it yet. Hm...nope, no screams. Oh phooey. Seeing Taylor walk into the second room, the room of the elder sister, Ryan made his way over to the doorway just as Taylor and her second stepsister's conversation - the term was used loosely - began.

Though Taylor disliked both of her stepsisters equally, she went into the room with the same attitude as the first. "Good morning, Sharpay."

"Well, it's about time." Sharpay huffed. Then again, maybe it was Sharpay's turn to be more cranky today. "Don't forget my measurements, you know how important those are! Don't forget the measurements. And don't be afraid to add extra pink, but not like your rags. My pink sash, got it?"

"Yes, Sharpay." Taylor responded as she left the room with a box of fabrics and the final tray on her head. Taylor waited until she was in the hallway to roll her eyes. Maybe it was the one day where both sisters were equally cranky. Oh what more fun that made it. Not.

Ryan was about to enter Sharpay's room when once again, the door hit him on the face as it closed. He rubbed his nose once more and looked as Taylor went into the final room.

"Come in, child. Come in." the voice of the stepmother could be heard from the room.

Ryan looked once more at Sharpay's room, waiting for a scream. Nothing. This was his last chance. Jason had to be in the stepmother's tray then. He went over to the final doorway.

"Good morning stepmother." Taylor greeted, knowing this was the woman she had to be on the best behavior for. Though she knew very well that both stepsisters could get her into just as much trouble, the stepmother was the one that assigned all the work for Taylor. One wrong move, one wrong word, one wrong anything, and it would be...well, let's just say it'd be the last place even some villains would want to be.

But the stepmother didn't waste any chit-chat time. "Pick up all the laundry and get right on it." she said.

"Yes stepmother." Taylor replied ever so obediently as she left the room.

Ryan was about to run into that room when, you guessed it, the door slammed in his face again. Poor Ryan was not having any luck this morning. He grabbed his nose when the door hit him and looked over at Taylor. There was no way she could still have that mouse, could she? He looked over and saw that in place of the last tray that was on her head, there was a laundry bag. Dang, how did she do that? When did her head turn into some kind of..of...Superhead? Ryan pressed his ear hard against the stepmother's door. Not a sound. He did it again. Still nothing. Ryan meowed some complaints to himself as he lay down in front of the door, his front legs folded like they were arms.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Those amount of a's and h's in the 'ah' was an understatement. Needless to say that Ryan was overjoyed to hear such a loud scream escape Sharpay's room. The scream was quickly followed by something breaking. Ryan quickly and happily slid over to the door, waiting for Jason to crawl out from under. As soon as Ryan's eyes fell on Jason, he grabbed the defenseless mouse with his paws. But that didn't stop Sharpay's screaming - or possible overreacting - or more screaming.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!" she screamed again as she slammed the door open, running into the hallway. "MOTHER! MOTHER, MOTHER, MOTHER!!!!"

Hearing the large amounts of screaming, Taylor put everything she had down and rushed back upstairs to see what was going on. Next thing she knew, she came face to face with her stepsister Sharpay. Sharpay was about the same height as her, only with pale skin compared to Taylor's. Her blond locks were mainly under a hairnet of sorts, but a few strands could be seen from underneath. The hairnet soon fell off, revealing a very messy bun of blond hair, at Sharpay's constant moving and anger. As for her sleepwear, it was all nothing but pink with even a few sparkles on it. Now you knew why Sharpay had demanded so much pink from Taylor before. And as soon as Sharpay looked at Taylor, she didn't wait a second before pointing the finger.

"You! This is all your fault! You did it on purpose!" she scolded.

Taylor backed away a little from her sister, having no idea what she was talking about. But Sharpay didn't give Taylor a chance to reply. Sharpay ran into the stepmother's room, continuing to scream and beg for her.

"MOTHER, MOTHER, MOTHER!!"

Now it was Tiara who was leaving her room to see what the commotion was all about. She had the same skin tone and hair as Sharpay, though her blond locks were completely under her hairnet. Unlike her sister, Tiara's nightgown was nothing but green. She was the one that used the British accent and was just as ruthless as her sister.

"Now what did you do?" she demanded from Taylor. Tiara didn't give her a chance to answer, either. Tiara rolled her eyes and stormed into her mother's room to see what was going on.

Taylor followed Tiara's direction with her eyes. And, with the door still opened, she could hear a good portion of the conversation.

"What's going on, dear?" was the question from the stepmother.

"It was her! She put it there!" Sharpay insisted, most likely pointing to the door and referring to Taylor. "A big fat ugly mouse! It was hideous!"

Taylor gasped. Oh no, it wasn't Jason was it? How did he get mixed up into all of this? As soon as the door slammed shut, most likely so the family could have one of their secret meetings or something, Taylor's gaze was directed right to Ryan. She put her hands on her hips and began tapping her foot. And since Ryan couldn't talk, she could be as mean as she wanted to him. Well, maybe not that mean. No sense in taking any anger out on a cat. But she knew he was behind this somehow. Or at least, he had Jason.

"Alright Ryan, what did you do with him?" she asked.

Ryan just shrugged his shoulders innocently and looked away.

"Ryan, show me the mouse." Taylor said.

Ryan then opened his paws, only to reveal no Jason. He then smiled, under the impression that he would now get off the hook.

But Taylor was far too smart for him. "You're not fooling anyone, Ryan. Show me where Ryan is." she insisted, picking him up slightly so that his hind legs were still on the ground.

But once again, Ryan folded his front legs like arms. He was trying to give her the impression that he knew nothing.

"Come on Ryan, show me." she told him. "Show me where Jason is."

Ryan sighed and lifted one of his hind legs. Nothing under there. Now he had to be off the hook.

"Nice try, Ryan. Let him go." Taylor replied.

Ryan shook his head.

"Then show me the other paw." Taylor scolded. "Come on!"

Ryan groaned and slowly, reluctantly lifted up his last paw slightly. Even though he moved it just a little, he moved it just enough to reveal Jason curled up in a little fluff ball underneath, shivering like he'd seen a whole group of cat ghosts trying to eat him.

Taylor sighed. How could one cat be so evil to one little mouse? "Poor little guy."

Jason looked around, wondering what had happened. Wait a minute, he could get out of here now! He tried running away, but ran right back into Ryan's paw. Jason back away and tried running again, but slammed back into Ryan's paw. Turning around, he then rushed and squeezed into the nearest mouse hole. Taylor had watched Jason's every move, making sure that he had gotten away safe and sound before Ryan could pull any schemes.

Ryan reached out his paws to grab Jason, even though he was really just grabbing air, but as soon as Jason was out of sight, Ryan sighed and dropped his paws. There went his mid-morning snack.

"Oh Ryan, will you ever learn?" Taylor sighed as she put Ryan down.

"Taylor." the stepmother called simple, getting Taylor's attention.

Ryan grinned like the Cheshire Cat. How could he forget the stepmother? Oh yes, this would serve her right for taking away his snack. She was gonna be in trouble now. Ryan ran over to the door and strutted into the room with Taylor behind him.

"Yes stepmother." Taylor responded, making her way over. Yes, even she knew that even though she didn't do anything, Taylor was going to be in trouble. As she walked over to the door she saw Sharpay and Tiara walking out, each standing on one side. They smirked at her and folded their arms. They just loved seeing Taylor get in trouble.

"Are you gonna get it." Sharpay said.

"Somebody's in trouble." Tiara added.

Taylor paid no attention to them as she stepped into the room, heeding the stepmother's call.

"Close the door, Taylor." the stepmother said from inside.

Taylor obeyed and shut the door before either girl could walk in. Sharpay and Tiara exchanged glances. Tiara was the first to try and peak through the key hole, but then Sharpay pushed her out of the way to get a better view. Once they came to an agreement, they both looked through the key hole in the door and listened to the conversation.

In the stepmother's room, Taylor leaned up against the door, waiting to be told to walk over. This was a no win situation. Against the stepmother, Taylor could do nothing. Well, think maybe, but technically do nothing. She couldn't speak her mind. She couldn't start an argument. She couldn't get on word in edgewise. The only thing her stepmother couldn't stop her from doing was glare at her. And boy, did Taylor have an icy glare.

"Come here." the stepmother told Taylor.

She obeyed, walking towards her stepmother's bed with her head held up, showing that she wasn't afraid.

Ryan jumped onto the bed and headed over to where the stepmother was sitting in bed. At first the stepmother was seen in nothing but shadows. But the closer Taylor stepped, the more of the stepmother that could be seen. She had the same blond locks that her daughters had, but had nowhere near a decent figure as them. As a matter of fact, the stepmother was quite frumpy. A little on the obese side, just a little. And she had the strangest taste in glasses. But she didn't hesitate to give Taylor a similar glare with just as much ice in it. The stepmother stroked Ryan as he lay down beside her, knowing he was going to enjoy every moment of this. Now, I bet you're wondering what exactly this stepmother went by. To her daughters, she was Mother. To Taylor, she was Stepmother. But by name, she went by Darbus. Lady Darbus, to be precise. And that was who Taylor pretty much went up against every day.

As hopeless as it may have seemed against Darbus, that didn't stop Taylor from at least trying to get her side of the story in.

"Please, if you'll just let me..."

"Hold your tongue." Darbus demanded, as her way of making Taylor shut up. "Now..." she said in a more quiet, almost too peaceful voice as she reached for her tea cup and morning drink, "it seems we have a little time on our hands now, don't we?"

"But I was just trying to-" Taylor started.

"Silence." Darbus interrupted.

Taylor regained her posture and stood straight and tall, showing as little fear as possible.

"It seems we have time for vicious, practical jokes." she finished as she poured her drink. "Perhaps we can do a little fixing for that. After all, this house is a place of work and obedience, not clown college."

Ryan smirked as he listened to his master. Oh yes, this was going to be good.

"Now let me see..." Darbus pondered for a moment as she went about putting some sugar in her drink, which looked most like tea or coffee, "...there's that large carpet in the main hall." She glared at Taylor and used a more icy tone, "clean it." She then put the sugar down and used the same fake nice tone, "And the windows upstairs." Once again followed by the icy tone, accompanied by a nod from Ryan, "Wash them." The stepmother then smirked as she went about stirring her drink ever so lightly, not even caring that she was earning a more icy glare from Taylor. "Oh yes, and the tapestries, and the draperies..."

Taylor's eyes widened. All of these extra, although somewhat minor, chores were useless. "But I just did-"

"Do them again!" Darbus insisted.

Taylor bit her tongue as she regained her posture once more. She placed her hands against her body, knowing that if she lay them flat out like that then she wouldn't be able to turn them into fists. If she had enough guts, woudl Taylor love to just hit something out of annoyance right now.

"And don't forget," Darbus continued, "the garden, the scrub the terrace, sweep the halls and the stairs, clean the chimneys, and of course there's the mending and the sewing and the laundry..."

Ryan nodded contently at Taylor's punishment with each thing Darbus assigned. But when she stopped, he opened one eye. why did she stop? What was she missing? There had to be something else, didn't there? Come on, she took away his mouse for crying out loud! There had to be at least one more chore she could throw at Taylor for being so insubordinate. Anything!

"Oh yes, and one more thing." the stepmother remembered as she sipped her drink.

Ryan smiled widely and smirked at Taylor. Now what was that last, horrible chore she'd have to get?

"See to it that Ryan gets his bath. He's been doing too much running again." Darbus finished.

Ryan's mouth dropped. He changed his mind, take away that last chore! Don't make her give him a bath! Please anything but a bath!

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And now you have officially met the step family! It was a little hard to do proper introductions for the stepsisters because they didn't have such a huge part in this scene, so I'm going to try and make up for that in their next appearance. The same goes for Darbus. Let's not forget to make her say a few dramatic things as the story goes on, right? But you know there'll be plenty more of her to come. MermaidRam and I had been talking about what characters would best suit the step family, and while I'm sure there's a ton of evil things that Sharpay could do as the stepmother, I just felt that Darbus suit the role so much better. Now for the antagonists we have almost the entire drama club. Sort of like in the first HSm but with more characters, huh? Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Now before I leave you for the day...or for now..I have two very important questions to ask you because I love to hear your opinions and I also want to know what you guys want to see in the story. Particularly two things. Oh wait, I already said two, didn't I? XD Alright then.... First off, in a few chapters you'll be seeing the mice sing the Work Song, which some of you might also know as Cinderelly. How should that be changed to suit Taylor, or should it stay as Cinderelly and make it kind of a little joke in the story? And the second question, for those of you who read my Beauty and the Beast HSM Style, you might remember me adding in that little music video type chapter at the end after the credits...do you guys want to see that here as well? And if so, which song? So This Is Love, or a Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes? Because really, I just plain can't decide with that, so that's why I need some help. xD Can't wait to hear from everyone and once again, thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 5

First off, I'd like to apologize for keeping you guys waiting for the next chapter for a few days. I kept making plans with my friends and well...sorta got distracted. Plus my plans for this weekend got canceled, so basically either way this week i would have missed out on two days of updating. Anyway, I don't think I should keep you guys waiting any longer. So let's move onto the next chapter where you'll meet the characters known as The King and the Grand Duke. No really, that's their names in the movie. Nothing like say Bernie the Grand Duke or King Chester or Steven the Grand Duke or King Richard...alright I'm getting carried away. Let's just move on already shall we?  
Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Near the other side of the kingdom, there should have been nothing going on but a celebration. It was the time when the Prince would return home from one of his adventures; the king would jump with joy, grand music would be playing, and everyone would be the happiest person in the world. Even with the Prince gone it didn't look like anything could go wrong. The kingdom was in very capable hands...the hands of none other than King Jack of course. He ruled with a firm and mighty yet gentle and somewhat crazy fist. His large, glorious white castle could be scene from miles away. And in the night sky it would light up beautifully and make people in the poorhouses look at it with awe. Even the pigeons liked to try and perch themselves on the castle's windowsills in hopes that they could get a look inside at the wonderful life of King Jack. But such was not the case today. Just as the pigeons got comfortable, they had to flap their wings and fly off. For within seconds, a crown was flying through the window with what seemed, to the birds anyway, like an earth-shattering crack. The glass broke and the crown fell to who-knows-where outside. As the birds carefully replaced themselves, they were just able to get a listening in on the King's conversation with the Grand Duke, otherwise known as the King's younger son.

You see, King Jack has had two wives in his lifetime. The first wife gave him his first heir, Prince Chad. After her passing, King Jack married again and was granted another son, Prince Troy. But the king was never one to play favorites with his boys. He was going to follow tradition without question, having his first son Chad as heir to his throne. But he wasn't just going to let Troy live in his brother's shadow, or wait for a time where he could become heir. No, why create such jealousy between brothers? It might as well be, as what King Jack called, "the Lion Hamlet...or whatever movie about those lions is based off that play". So King jack gave Troy the next highest honor he could think of - the Grand Duke. Not only did it mean that Troy could serve his family, but the entire kingdom. And to be able to send messages around the kingdom or help it in anyway possible, Troy was more than thrilled. But unfortunately, Chad was always off on his excursions. And the king wanted nothing more than to have both of his boys home and have at least one of them settled down. You could guess who his first priority was. Even now, King Jack and Troy were having trouble seeing eye to eye.

"This is ridiculous!" King Jack pounded his fist onto his table just after throwing his crown out the window.

Troy, standing on the other side of the room, glanced at the window and then back at his father. "That it's the fourth crown you've lost to the window this month, or that the windows break so easily?"

"No!" the king replied. "Well...yes, those. And the fact that I can't get a good sandwich around here. They always get me the wrong bread." Then he shook his head and went back into his rage. "I'm also talking about how my son is neglecting his responsibilities!" He saw Troy's jaw drop and knew he got that mixed up, as usual. "Oh no Troy, not you. The other one." After a nod from Troy, the King continued before slumping in his seat. "He's always off on his little travels doing what he needs to do for whatever. That's nowhere near as important as his duties here. And it's time he finally settled down!"

Looking between the two men, it was easy to see the resemblance. King Jack was a tall, fit man, though when he ate a lot he tended to get heavy very easily. His brown hair was starting to turn grey on the sides, and it almost looked like some facial hair on his face was starting to show more than usual. As for his kingly attire, it looked more military-esque than anything else. And hanging around his neck there always seemed to be a whistle. No one knew why he always had that with him, he just did. Then there was Troy; he got his shaggy hair from his father - the shade, not the shagginess. He shared the same pale skin tone and eye color, and Troy looked very much fit. But he looked much more laid back than his father. Along with a simple pair of pants, Troy merely wore a blue jacket over a white t-shirt. He also wore a sash around his shoulder which, according to King Jack, showed royalty. As for whether either of them resembled the elder prince...well, we'll meet him later on.

"I know, Dad." Troy sighed. "But maybe if you were a little more patient..."

Before Troy could finish, he was forced to duck behind one of the doors as King Jack threw a bottle of ink along with a feather pen against the wall yelling, "I AM PATIENT!" Then King jack sighed and slumped back in his chair. He glanced in the direction of Troy. "Son, I'm going to tell you something no son wants to hear from his old man."

Troy poked his head from behind the door in curiosity. "What, Dad?"

The king sighed. "I'm not getting any younger. I want to see some grandchildren before I kick the bucket."

"You're not that old, Dad. You look way younger than fifty." Troy replied.

King Jack couldn't help but smirk. "Alright, now you're just kissing up."

"Sorry." Troy couldn't help but chuckle as he walked over to his father. "But I understand where you're coming from..."

King Jack shook his head. "No son, no you don't." He pointed to a picture of himself when he was much younger, holding a small cocoa-skinned boy with a bush of hair on his lap, both looking thrilled. "You don't know what it means to see your child grow up..." he pointed to a picture of himself and the boy when they were older, "and up..." and then another picture from a few years later, "and up, and ride off to do what it is that children do best. To not need their father anymore. And...and sometimes I get lonely in this boring old palace."

Lonely? Now why would King Jack get lonely when he had one son left? Oh yes, one of the problems with getting old. Loss of memory. It probably didn't help much when Troy had to leave the palace for whatever reason, either. Or perhaps the king was just being dramatic. And that was quite ironic for him, he hated drama.

The king sighed and put his head on Troy's shoulder in a depressed manner. "I wanna hear the pitter-patter of little feet again."

"Awe Dad, don't cry." Troy said as he rubbed the king's back. "Maybe all he really needs is to be let alone..."

"Leave him alone!" King jack gasped as he practically pushed Troy onto the desk. "You don't think this is some silly romantic idea, do you?"

Troy got off the desk and stayed behind the chair for safety precautions. He'd be the first to admit his father had some anger issues...just not to his face. But there had to be some way to help him understand. After all, even the king had to fall in love at some point right? Dang, he fell in love twice! He should understand the situation better than anyone.

"But Dad, in matters of love..." Troy tried to explain.

King Jack rolled his eyes. "Not this again. Love? C'mon Troy, it's not rocket science. All you need is the right conditions. That's all it takes. Just a boy meeting a girl under those conditions and bam, you're in mushy land. So we'll arrange the conditions."

As much as Troy hated to admit it, maybe his dad did have a point. Sometimes that's really all it did take. Love didn't have to be about meeting a person and getting to know them and then falling for them and all that. Sometimes it could be as simple as love at first sight. And in such conditions, maybe that's all his brother needed. And not only did Troy want to see his brother happy but more importantly, he wanted to see his father happy. And no one wanted to make the king angry. Luckily, Troy was the level-headed one. So while sometimes it didn't take much for him to get his father angry, other times it could do just the opposite. And Troy couldn't help but feel that if they did go through with such a plan, there would be a snag. Or two. Maybe more. Troy was no expert at master plans and pushing people together, but he knew that snags didn't sound good.

"But Dad, what if Chad suspects-" he started.

"Suspect?" the king huffed. "Please, there's nothing to suspect. He's coming home today isn't he?" He didn't even wait for Troy to answer, he just kept continuing. "So what better way to commemorate such a momentous occasion than throwing a celebration? A ball, if you will. Yeah that's a good name for it. A ball! And if all the elligible girls in the kingdom just so happened to be there...well c'mon Troy, he's bound to like one of them."

Troy couldn't help but wonder, "And if he doesn't?"

"Well then you're officially the normal one of this family." he shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, but I'm going with this plan first. The first plan always works. Always go with your gut. Now, where were we...?"

There wasn't much point in arguing. Unless Troy thought of a good one. And odds were that his father wouldn't listen. 'Well...you were saying how if all the eligible girls are at his welcome home ball then he should show interest in one of them."

"Right, that's exactly right!" the king nodded. "So chad is bound to show interest in one of those girls, isn't he?"

With no way out, Troy nodded. "Yeah Dad."

"Then we need to start planning everything right this second if it's going to be ready by tonight. Quick Troy, what do girls your age love?" he replied.

Troy raised an eyebrow. "Um, Dad...? I'm not a girl so I'm not entirely sure. I'm a dude so I don't know what girls find romantic. Maybe...ponies?"

King Jack shook his head. "I'm goin with my gut then. We'll do what people my age loved. Dimmed lights. Romantic music. Some really nice decorations. Oh yeah, and some of that really slow ballroom dancing. And..."

Troy slowly stood up and lightly tapped his father on the shoulder.

King Jack sighed. "What is it now, Troy?"

"Well, you said every eligible maiden was going to be there..." Troy started.

"Well technically every single girl, but your way sounds classier. So yeah, we'll go with that." King Jack nodded.

"Does that include that nice girl we have here who's been reading the announcements for the footman?" Troy wondered.

"Are you kidding Troy? No way!" he shook his head. "She's going to be the one doing the announcing of the girls arriving at the ball. If we don't have some kind of footman then we've got no one. And until our usual footman gets over that cold, we're stuck with her."

"Yes!" Troy cheered to himself. Hey, he couldn't help it. That nice young lady - who just so happened to be around his age - that was filling in for the footman - who also happened to be one of her relatives - was one cute girl. The one girl that Troy didn't want his brother to pick as a possible bride like his father was trying to plan. To make a long story short, you'll meet her later along with the other prince because she doesn't come into the story yet. And when you meet her, you'll see why Troy is going ga ga.

The king raised an eyebrow at his son. "Did you say something, Troy?"

"Huh?" Troy snapped out of it. Great, how was he going to get out of this one? "Erm...footman?"

Jack shook his head, seeming a bit confused now. "Sorry.... Footwoman." he corrected. Boy when did people start getting so testy about that? Was he really that out of touch with his kingdom already? Oh well, when his oldest son would take over the throne, the last thing King Jack would need to worry about was keeping in touch with the kingdom. That'd be his son's job. His only concern after that would be took look after his grand-babies. It would only be a matter of time now. Oh wait, they'd been in the middle of something hadn't they? Alright, now to finish where they left off...

King Jack turned back to Troy. "Like I said, nothing could go wrong. Isn't that right, son?"

"Yeah Dad...um...no, Dad..." Wait, what was Troy supposed to say now? Now he'd gotten confused. "Never mind. I'll start setting up the ball."

"Great. Have it done by tonight!" King Jack grinned.

"Tonight?" Troy repeated. He must have been off daydreaming longer than he thought to miss his own father telling him to arrange the ball for tonight.

"Yes, tonight!" he sighed heavily. "How many times do I have to say it?"

"None." Troy shook his head.

"Good!" King Jack replied before getting in Troy's face and shaking his finger. "And remember to make sure every single lady is there. Don't forget, Troy!"

Troy nodded as his father walked away. "I'm on it, Dad." Before the sun would set tonight, he'd have the 'footwoman' send out messages to every home in the kingdom to inform them of the ball and that the girls must attend. So mcuh work to do, so little time. It was just a good thing that Troy wasn't alone on this and he could gather some help from the castle workers. That was the only way this was going to work. It wasn't exactly the way he'd hope his brother would live happily ever after, but it was a start. And better than nothing. It'd get his father off his back, that was for sure. Let him annoy Chad for a while instead. And besides, it wasn't going to be a total loss. Even if by some freaky twist of fate, Troy's brother wouldn't find a single girl there attractive or interesting or anything of the sorts, Troy could think of one good thing that could come out of planning, throwing, and attending the ball.

It'd give him a reason to talk to that footwoman he liked so much.

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Not exactly as long as I hoped it would be. I would have loved to drag out the conversation between Troy and Jack some more, but I honestly couldn't think of any good ways to. But I do hope they got a good introduction. Yes, Jack Bolton is the king of this unnamed kingdom. I was trying to combine his looks with the king's..and of course, add in the whistle cause well, he's the coach. He's gotta have his whistle. And in keeping the king's personality, I wanted to make it seem more Jack-like by using things you'd expect Jack to say. It was just a little harder than I expected. Anyway, Troy is also the Grand Duke. it would have been weird to make him the Grand Duke and not related to Jack, so I twisted the story with that just a little. Not to mention that he and Chad are already like brothers so why not make them brother. Let's be honest, Cinderella's a classic and since there are so many versions of it I want to try and be as true to the Disney version as much as possible. I hope it was a good start for Troy as this character. and you've also gotten a minor peek at an upcoming character...the footman. Or in this story for another minor twist, a footwoman. C'mon, you guys know who it's gonna be. 0=) Even if you don't, I'll explain the whole reasoning behind that when she does appear. Ok that's enough yakking for me now. Next chapter you'll get a proper introduction to the step family and watch what happens when they get news about the ball.


	7. Chapter 6

Well I'm glad everyone liked the intros in the last chapter. I hope you guys are in the mood for some more, because here you're going to officially be introduced - or maybe the right word is re-introduced - to the step family. Now technically tomorrow is my first day of school so that means there won't be an update everyday. But also technically, I have Mondays and Fridays off. So that means there will be an update tomorrow. I'm just letting you guys know ahead of time, and if any of you who remembered my stories from this past semester then you knew how long those took to update...and I have no idea if it'll be any harder this semester (two days a week I'm at school for a good 12 hours...at least i think it's 12). But let's skip all that cause I don't want to bring you guys down with my hating of school. So for these next two chapters while there's still freedom to write them, let's enjoy them shall we? And cue the step family in three, two, one...  
Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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It was later that same day when the step family was in the music room of their chateau working on their all important music lesson. But of course, what else would they do in the music room? Darbus thought it very important that her daughters get music lessons every day and has made it clear to Taylor that they are not to be disturbed. There has been a long history of musicians in Darbus' family and it wasn't going to end now. She was determined to bring out the musical gifts of Sharpay and Tiara. From a young age she's had them playing the flute and singing. Well, actually Sharpay was the one on the flute and Tiara was the singer. It was a shame that Darbus didn't have the roles reversed or else they might sound so much better. Neither girl seemed interested in what they were doing. And while they would work on their lessons, Darbus would lead them on the piano. There was no way an old goat like her could play professionally so she had to let her daughters give it a try.

Darbus was a woman who knew what she wanted and went for it. It was true in everything that she did. As old as she was, there was plenty of fight left in her. As far as her figure went, she was a bit more on the plump side than anything else. Her now graying hair still had a few remaining hints of what used to be blond locks and there was nothing but volume in them. Her face was wrinkly and doused with a little too much makeup. Her fierce eyes were covered by a pair of very tacky red glasses, which matched her red dress very well. The dress was just as tacky as the glasses, complete with a green jewel and a few frills here and there. It almost looked like something you'd see from a play. That was what Darbus used to live for in her day and now it was what her daughters were living for. It was after she left the world of theater that she met her first husband, one of British decent, and she had Sharpay and then Tiara. No one knew what happened to Darbus' husband, whether she just plain divorced him or maybe hired a hit-man to do him in, but one way or another she just left with her two daughters and cat. It was not too long after that when she met Taylor's father and acted like the perfect little housewife. But as soon as he died, of natural causes, she revealed her true nature to Taylor. Darbus had never liked that girl. Taylor was headstrong, stubborn, very brave, and had a beauty far greater than either of her daughters. Darbus couldn't stand that. So she did everything she could to bring that girl's confidence down. She dressed Taylor in rags and turned her into the maid. She was forced to not only do everything Darbus said, but anything Sharpay and Tiara pleased as well. And as much as Darbus would have expected the girl's spirit to be broken by now, Taylor was still going strong. Though she would hide it plenty of times, Darbus could always see that fiery passion in Taylor's eyes. It was obvious that Taylor was destined for far greater things. And it was Darbus' job to make sure those greater things didn't go to Taylor.

Sharpay was the older of the two sisters. She inherited her blond locks from her mother. They were well taken care of, full of highlights and volume; Sharpay's hair was a few inches past shoulder length and always had something in it. Whether it be a simple pink barrette or little sparkling beads. Unlike Darbus, Sharpay had a slim figure. A very nice figure, as a matter of fact. However it was the attire Sharpay wore that often hid it. Her signature color being pink, Sharpay most often wore a a pink dress that made her shoulders seem very broad, poorly highlighted her curves, and was fairly puffy from the waist down. Overall, Sharpay was a lovely girl. But Darbus had always thought she could be much prettier. Hence the wardrobe and any excess, unneeded makeup. It did quite the opposite of what Darbus wanted it to accomplish; none of it complimented Sharpay at all. Between the two girls, Sharpay was the more dramatic. She made a big deal out of everything. She wanted to be the center of attention, which might have had something to do with her being an only child before Tiara came along. Sharpay also became jealous very easily. Like her mother, she hated everything about Taylor. So any chance she got, Sharpay would snap at Taylor. It was a trait such as that, that Taylor had nicknamed Sharpay the Ice Princess. Not to say Sharpay couldn't get rid of the act easily; any time she wanted Sharpay could look as sweet as a newborn kitten. But even the mice could tell that the kitten had claws.

Tiara was very much like her sister, being less than a few years younger. Her blond locks were much straighter than Sharpay's and less voluminous. They often laid flat on her head and would either be in a pony tail or just down. Yet since Tiara shared the same mother as Sharpay, that meant going through the same things. Mainly the horrible wardrobe that was supposed to compliment her, and the makeup that was supposed to do things like bring out her eyes. It was even Darbus' idea to have Tiara wear a bow in the back of her hair. Darbus claimed it brought out Tiara's innocence. But as pretty as her sister as Tiara was, there was the same problem with the dress. It was similar to Sharpay's, but more of a green color. Tiara had originally wanted orange when picking out a wardrobe but Darbus wanted them to match and claimed that Tiara had to dispose of any orange in her closet. The sleeves to tiara's dress was much puffier and the dress itself was only so much thinner around her legs than her sister's. While Tiara had inherited her looks from her mother as well, the British accent was something she got from her father. Yes, Tiara had been such a daddy's girl when he was around. But when he was gone, she got over it rather quickly. Between her and Sharpay, Tiara was only slightly more level-headed. She loved the idea of scheming and drama just as much as her sister, but was aware that it could only go so far. and when tiara played the sweet girl, she went all out. She acted loyal, friendly, everything you'd expect; but once a person's back was turned the girl could be even harsher than her sister. If Sharpay had claws then Tiara had fangs.

Now Darbus was sitting in front of the piano with Tiara standing at the side practicing her vocal chords. In front of a music stand just behind the piano, Sharpay was looking over her flute song book and tuning it to the best of her abilities. The girls exchanged looks, wishing that they could trade for a day. Sharpay wanted the world to hear her voice and Tiara would rather hit a high note with a musical instrument than her own voice. But they had to do what Darbus told them to do. If anything at all went wrong with the music lesson then Darbus would have a fit. It was clear that this lesson was of the utmost importance, much greater than worrying about teaching them to cook or such. While Taylor would be spending the majority of her day doing chores, the girls would be in the music room practicing. It was that simple. So now it was time to see what they learned since their last lesson.

"Alright girls, let's get to work immediately. I want even more passion than you gave to me last time." Darbus commanded. "Tiara, let me hear the emotion in your voice. Sharpay, don't hold back with your flut. Now girls, on my cue..."

Tiara took a deep breath as Darbus played the first note. She followed the melody to the best of her abilities, but...well, let's just say Tiara was slightly tone deaf. It hadn't exactly helped that she had such a horrible voice coach when she was younger either.

_"Oh, sing sweet nightingale"_

Sharpay shortly followed with her flute, hitting most of the right notes she was supposed to. As much as she would have loved to stop and get it perfect to please her mother, Darbus has made it clear that once they started they couldn't stop until the song was done and they could go over every little thing that went wrong, or if for some stupid reason there was a bigger emergency than giving the girls the practice they needed.

_"Sing sweet nightingale, high above me"_

Tiara glared at Sharpay as she hit an extremely high note on the flute. Sharpay caught the look her sister was sending her and just rolled her eyes, continuing to play.

_"Oh sing sweet nightingale_

_Sing sweet nightingale"_

From the arm chair in the room, Ryan was having a hard time dealing with their rehearsal as well. Every time any one of them hit such a high note his fur stood up on him. He started by covering his ears with his paws, but he could still hear the horrid music. Grabbing the pillow behind him, Ryan tried to use that to shield his ears from the sounds. But even that wasn't enough. How many times a week did they have to put him through this torture? Ryan was willing to bet he could sing better than those two...and he was a cat so he couldn't even sing to begin with. Tossing the pillow off his head, Ryan then used his paw to quickly adjust his little kitty hat. He then hopped off the chair and went into the hallway. By the time he was in the hallway Ryan's fur stood up again at another sound of such a high note. Oh man how much more torture could he take? Using one of his back paws, he closed the door. Unfortunately even that wasn't enough. He could still hear the faint sounds of horrible music coming from inside.

_"Oh, sing sweet nightingale..."_

Ryan shook his head and rushed over to the staircase. It wasn't that much farther from the door but at least he was able to hear less of the singing and such from there. He was going to need to find some earplugs or something for the next lesson. But when Ryan got to the head of the steps he could hear another voice overpowering the sisters'.

_"Oh, sing sweet nightingale_

_Sing sweet nightingale"_

That sure as heck wasn't coming from the stepsisters. This voice was much softer but had so much more passion and power to it. It was almost...well, nice. Like it made Ryan feel all nice and mushy inside. Who was singing that? But then he actually found out who it was coming from and snapped out of it. Looking downstairs he could see Taylor washing the floors with nothing but a small bucket of water and an old rag. Now Ryan wasn't exactly the sharpest cat in the litter, but even it didn't take him long to figure out that the voice was coming from Taylor. Knowing that, he absolutely hated it. How could someone so low in the household have such a nice voice? He was pretty sure that wasn't supposed to happen. Ryan crept down the staircase to get a better look at her. What was she planning? Why sing while cleaning? That wasn't going to make anything better. It wasn't like anyone important could hear her. Why should she sing? Her hops were supposed to be spilling onto that floor with the rag and never coming back up. Just like all those times Taylor wanted to give Ryan and the step family a piece of her mind, Ryan wanted to give her a piece of his mind. He never liked that girl. He sneered to himself but had no choice but keep listening to her.

_"Sing sweet nightingale"_

Ryan sat down at the foot of the steps and raised an eyebrow at her. Then, turning his head, he could see a pile of dust collected. Oh, so she thought she was done with the dusting for the day was she? Now wouldn't it be a shame if all that dust somehow got around the house? And after all, Ryan hadn't gotten his bath yet so he had nothing to lose. He could clean himself. And as long as his hat didn't get messed up, he'd be happy. It'd get Taylor into loads of trouble. Yes, he was just as scheming as the girls. Ryan smirked and pressed his paw into the dirt. He only took a second to look at his paw with contentment. He had a really nice paw print right there, like one of those famous cats. Not like the Kutcher's cat Ashton. That cat was just a snob and a know-it-all. Well let him soak in the sun while he has it. Cause if Ryan got Taylor in trouble, he'd be sure to get something wonderful from Darbus.

Unfortunately, Taylor had a bit of a tendency to lose herself in the middle of her chores. Even though her voice couldn't be heard, singing helped distract her from the horror of it. She hated cleaning after her stepsisters, she hated being treated like a slave in her own house, she hated getting put down, and she hated having extra chores for doing or saying one wrong little thing. And while no one could hear her, singing was a good way to get her emotions out. But right now, Taylor didn't want to sing about something terrible or how down she felt. She wanted to sing something that would get her spirits up, that would boost her confidence once again. Even she knew her sisters weren't that musically gifted, so whether they knew it or not, this would be one thing she'd always have up on them. Taylor continued on with the floor scrubbing, lost in the world of the song.

_"Oh sing sweet nightingale_

_Sing sweet nightingale_

_Oh, sing sweet nightingale_

_Sing sweet_

_Oh sing sweet nightingale_

_Sing sweet_

_Oh sing, sweet nightingale_

_Oh, sing, sweet_

_Oh, sing..."_

Taylor was snapped out of her fantasy as soon as she picked her head up and looked over at the stairs. Much to her surprise, she saw Ryan jumping around, covering the staircase in his dirt-filled pawprints.

"Oh, Ryan!" she gasped.

The cat only replied with a smirk and sitting back down on the first step of the staircase. Boy had he shown her good or what.

Looking around her, Taylor was horrified to see that nearly the entire floor was splattered in Ryan's paw prints. She stood up, aggravated, and tossed down her rag.

"You mean old son of a cat!" She picked up her broom and watched as Ryan knocked down the remaining dust and hopped out of the room, leaving a trail of dirt behind him. "I'm just going to have to teach you a lesson."

But before she could even get past the staircase, there was a knock at the door. Taylor turned to face it and heard a voice from outside, sounding like a woman's.

"Open in the name of the king!" she called. "An urgent message from his imperial majesty."

As Taylor walked over to the door, Zeke and Jason popped out from one of the hidden mouse holes in the house and ran over to her. Taylor then opened the door and was greeted more by a letter than a person. With her eyes fixed on the letter, she hadn't gotten a good look at the woman. But that didn't stop her from showing common courtesy.

"Thank you very much." she replied, taking the letter. She then closed the door and took a long look at the envelope. It was most definitely official; it had the King's seal of a approval on it. She wondered what made this letter so urgent.

"What's it say Tay-Tay?" Zeke asked eagerly.

Jason jumped up and down. "Yeah. Yeah, what it say?"

"I'm not sure." she answered after examining it a bit more. "But she said it was urgent." Her brown eyes glanced up the staircase upon hearing another loud chorus from Tiara. as much as she knew it was a bad idea to burst in on them, this was from the king. That was certainly emergency enough to walk in. "Maybe I should interrupt their little music lesson." Taylor said to the mice, winking as she used 'music lesson' very loosely.

The mice chuckled and ducked back into the hole, heading up one of the passageways to the room while Taylor took the stairs. They had to admire Taylor for not being afraid to burst into a trap so easily. One could only imagine how angry the step family would be. But it was a small price to pay.

Back in the music room, the lesson was continuing - as almost anyone in the house could hear.

_"Oh sing sweet nightingale, high..."_

That's where it got tricky and even worse. As Tiara hit the 'high' of the song, Sharpay struggled to move her finger which became stuck in the flute. She wiggled her finger - along with the instrument - up and down and was still blowing into it, causing Tiara to follow every note she was playing and repeat the 'high' even as the flute poked her under the chin. When Sharpay was finally able to free her finger, she just kept on playing the song. But Tiara wasn't going to hear that music anymore. She glared at her sister and grabbed the flute.

"You clumsy!" she yelled, bonking Sharpay on the head with her flute. "You did it on purpose!"

Sharpay looked at her sister and grabbed the flute back, then bonked Tiara with it. "How could I have done it on purpose? It was my finger's fault. This flute is way too tiny for me!"

The girls were then going at it, snapping at each other and getting ready to start a cat fight. Darbus has had enough of that. She stopped playing the piano and waved her hands at them, trying to get their attention.

"Girls, girls! Remember, above all there is self control."

Sharpay and Tiara halted their bickering, but stopped for only a moment to stick their tongues out at each other.

Darbus was about to start playing the song again when she heard knocking at the door. She slammed her hands onto the keyboard and looked at the door angrily.

"WHAT IS IT?" She watched as Taylor entered the room with a broom in one hand and an envelope in the other. But Darbus wasn't going to hear any of it. "Taylor! what have I told you about interrupting us?"

Taylor held the note so Darbus could get a better look at it. "But this just arrived from the palace..." she started.

"From the palace!" her stepsisters exclaimed as they rushed over. Tiara grabbed the note first, but then Sharapy started clawing at her sister and they teared the envolope open, arguing over who got to read it. Luckily, Darbus stepped in before they could tear the note to smithereens.

"I'll read it." she decided defiantly, getting the girls to stop.

Above one of the paintings in the room, Zeke opened a hidden hole behind the wallpaper. He and Jason looked out and were able to see and hear everything that was going on. Now they could find out what all the fuss was about with the letter.

Darbus' eyes widened as she read the note to herself before speaking aloud. "There's to be a ball!"

Sharpay and Tiara's mouths dropped. They looked at each other, clutching their chests in shock. "A ball?" they repeated.

"In honor of his royal highness, the Prince Chad's return!" Darbus continued.

"The prince!" the girls exclaimed again.

But the note wasn't through yet. "And, by royal command," Darbus continued, "every eligible maiden is to attend."

"Holy tea biscuits, that's us!" Tiara gasped, fanning herself.

"And I'm so eligible." Sharpay sighed contently, already dreaming about dancing with the prince.

Tiara put her hands on her hips and glared at Sharpay. "What's that even supposed to mean?"

"Hey I'm as single as they come, sister. I've got just as much chance with the prince as any other girl out there. I'm so available that only the prince himself could imagine having me for a princess."

"In your dreams." Tiara rolled her eyes.

"In your dreams." Sharpay huffed, feeling insulted by her sister's response.

Jason shook his head and Zeke stuck his tongue out. Boy were these girls in over their heads or what.

But Taylor didn't see it that way. She saw it as an absolute blessing. This is what she's been waiting for. There was no way they could exclude her from this. This could be her only chance to see if her dreams could come true. Just think about what one night out of the house would do. And even having a one in a million chance in dancing with the prince...those odds were way better if she was a servant girl for the rest of her life.

"That means I can go, too!" she realized.

Zeke's and Jason's eyes lit up as she said that. Finally, a time when this family could be put in their place.

"Huh! Her dancing with the prince!" Tiara laughed. "What a good show!"

Sharpay took it one step further. "I'd be honored for a dance, your royal majesty. Would you mind terribly holding my dusty old broom? I'm afraid that's the only good partner I've ever had. I can't dance and clean at the same time."

Tiara laughed once more and spoke in a deep voice, almost resembling the prince. "Why, I'd be honored. I just love dancing with dusty, servant girlie women!" she replied sarcastically.

The sisters then laughed together as they twirled each other around like they were dancing.

But Taylor wasn't intimidated or insulted by them. She was done with that. This was her way out for one night and she was taking it, for all it was worth. She wasn't going to deny any rights that she had. She was going to speak now with the same courage and confidence that she tried so hard to withdraw everyday.

"Well, why not?"

The sisters looked at her confused as they stopped dancing. Darbus quirked an eyebrow at her stepdaughter's response.

Taylor raised her chin and held it high, showing absolutely no fear. Like she actually was a part of the family instead of some work girl. "After all, I'm still a member of this family. And the letter clearly states from the king himself, 'by royal command every eligible maiden must attend'. So to stop me from going would be breaking the law. And you know how the king looks down on lawbreakers. You wouldn't want to disrespect his highness would you?'

Darbus should have expected as much from Taylor. She was smart and witty, she deserved that much. But that didn't mean Darbus was going to give it to her. Certainly not on a silver platter like she would her daughters. She wouldn't even give it to Taylor on a teared up plastic plate. So there was no shame in giving the girl a little hope. All the more fun it would be to tear her down when the result would blow up in her face. Leaving the prince all for Sharpay or Tiara for the taking. So let Taylor get all high and mighty while she can. It wasn't going to last. Darbus would make sure of that.

"Well, so it does." she answered. Darbus glanced at the letter, then back at Taylor. She shrugged her shoulders and held the letter lightly in her prune hands. "Well the, I suppose I see no reason why you can't go."

Sharpay and Tiara dropped their jaws. They exchanged looks before looking at Darbus appalled.

"I do mean, if you can get all your work done of course." Darbus finished.

That was more than enough for Taylor. It was more leeway than she could have ever dreamed for. It was just the motivation she needed to get all of her work done. She was going to make everything perfect, and once everything was finished there'd be no stopping her from going to the ball. She knew that somehow her stepmother had to see things her way, just once, even for a moment. If this worked, then she was sure to have the best night of her life.

"Oh I will stepmother, I will." she promised. She smiled and headed to the door. This was perfect, absolutely perfect.

But before she could actually leave, Darbus stopped her again. "And if you could find something suitable to wear."

"Oh I'm sure I can." Taylor replied with the same smile, so sure of herself. "Thank you so much stepmother. Thank you." Even as she left, Taylor knew such a woman didn't deserve that much thanks. But if she really could go to the ball tonight she didn't care if the rest of her life was horrible. Just even one little chance made her the happiest girl in the world right now.

As she left, Zeke and Jason hurried back into their hole and started making their way up to Taylor's room. They had to share the good news with the friends.

As soon as Taylor was out the door, Sharpay and Tiara wasted no time getting in Darbus' face.

"Mother, do you realize what you just said?" Tiara gasped.

"Of course, child." Darbus said simply as if it were no big deal. The she smirked, "I said, _if_."

"Oh... If." Tiara repeated, giggling.

Sharpay covered her mouth to hold in some devilish giggles. "If..." she agreed, which all three women knew was impossible.

Even Darbus couldn't help but laugh a little to herself. There was no way Taylor could find something nice to wear and get all of her chores done. All she had were rags. And after getting this letter, the three of them would be sure to fill her with ten too many chores. There would be no way Taylor could get all of them done in time to go to the ball. It was the perfect plan. That girl would be put into her place just yet.

* * *

Well this was the longest chapter yet! I think it turned out pretty well. I hope you have all enjoyed the more detailed description of the step family. It actually seemed like a much more suitable place to put it here with them as a group instead of in the middle of all the rushing around and fussing over a mouse like two chapters ago. This actually took a couple of hours to write. I wasn't entirely sure how to write out the bubble scene so I thought the best thing would be to leave it all to our imaginations. And as for the woman that was handing out the letters...well let's just say that was a brief un-detailed glimpse of the footwoman. I wasn't going to give away who she was this quickly. So will Taylor be able to go to the ball with all this extra work? Well, you just might find out in the next chapter, which I hope to have up by tomorrow (or, if you're reading this 15 minutes after I post this since it's 11:45 right now, then that means I hope to have the next chapter up by later today). I also have two more questions before I leave you guys. This first question will be the last time I ask it, since it comes up next chapter. And that question is (for those of you who did not answer)...the Work Song is in the next chapter, so should it be "Cinderelly" as an inside joke of the story, or changed to fit Taylor's name? And of course, thank you to anyone who already voiced their opinions. Finally (and this will be asked about one more time later on, so I just figured while we have one question up let's get this one too), should there be a final chapter of a music video like in my last Disney crossover and if so, would you prefer A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes or So This is Love? Again, thank you to anyone who already answered. I love hearing what you guys have to say and it's also important that you guys read what you want to in this story. And with that, I leave you with one final piece of advice...never watch another Disney movie while writing one because then you'll get distracted very easily (that's why i procrastinated till this late to write the chapter).


	8. Chapter 7

Ok I want to apologize for keeping you guys waiting so long. I had one free night since school started and well...I just got really lazy and didn't want to do anything. So now I'm going to try to make it up to you with an awesome chapter involving singing mice! I mean c'mon, who doesn't enjoy singing mice? They're so cute and fluffy...oh wait, that's Stitch. xD Anyway, you guys voted on what you wanted the song to be and now let it be revealed!  
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, movies, or song.

* * *

Not too long after the meeting with the step family had been adjourned, Taylor went up to her room in the tower and began looking through an old trunk she kept in the corner. She had no idea what her step family was planning in keeping her away from that ball tonight, but as long as there was a glimmer of hope, Taylor was going to take every opportunity she could. Maybe even, by some miracle, if she got all her chores done today then she would have time to work on her outfit for the ball. Not that she didn't have one, of course - she did. It just wasn't something you'd expect a girl like her to have. As much as Taylor loved things old fashioned and vintage, she could only go so far to show her love for it. And this was no exception.

The mice gathered around Taylor as they watched her go through the trunk, wondering what exactly it was that she was looking for. Their eyes became wide in awe and excitement when they saw what she was pulling out. It was none other than a dress. But not just any dress; it was a very special one. Certainly not like anything the kids today would call 'cool', that was for sure. The main colors of the dress were white and purple, the top being purple and the somewhat puffy bottom being a pure white. From the chest to the waist, the purple to be precise was a lighter shade and just above it was a white turtle neck with very short sleeves. There wasn't very much detail to the dress at all, and perhaps that was what made it so plain and old school. Most dresses nowadays usually had some sort of design or pattern on it, even a faint one. This dress was nothing. But that didn't stop Taylor's joy of pulling the outfit out and twirling around with pleasure.

"Isn't it lovely?" she asked the mice, holding the dress up against her. "It was my mother's."

Martha tilted her head looking at the dress before pointing at it. She was no fashion expert, but even she knew vintage when she saw it. "It look kinda old."

Taylor put the dress over the manikin she had in her room and straightened it out. "Well I suppose it is a little old fashioned," she admitted, "but I'm sure I can fix that somehow."

It wasn't that Taylor wanted to ruin a good thing. She didn't. And this dress had such sentimental value to her. But there was no harm in touching it up a bit. After all it was for a good cause.

Jason scratched his head. "Erm..how ya do dat?"

Taylor folded her arms and took a moment to examine the dress. As clueless as the little mouse seemed, he did have a point. And one couldn't fix a dress without ideas. No way would Taylor want to mess this up somehow. Looking over at a basket of yarn, various knitting supplies, and similar arts and crafts, Taylor noticed a book sticking out. She pulled it out and flipped through the pages.

"Maybe there's some good ideas in here," she thought aloud as looked through it. She sat down, still looking through the pages, while Zeke, Jason, and Martha gathered around eager to see what design Taylor would find most intriguing. It did have to match her style. It couldn't overdo the dress too much. And it certainly couldn't take away anything from the outfit. Upon finding one she liked, Taylor smiled and placed the book down, opening the page for the mice to see. "This one."

Martha nodded in approval. "Very nice."

Zeke nodded in agreement. "Vewy nice." he agreed. "It'll be weasy."

Taylor nodded and traced her finger through the picture, trying to help her friends see what she had in mind. "I'll need to add a little something to the collar so it doesn't look so plain. And maybe a sash or some kind of pattern would be a good idea. And then I'll just have to..."

She was so getting into the idea until a voice interrupted her thoughts. No surprise there.

"Taylor!"

Taylor rolled her eyes and faced the door, able to hear her stepsister's voice from all the way downstairs. "Wonder what they want now?" she sighed.

"Taylor!" her stepsister called again, shortly followed by her stepmother.

"Taylor!"

Taylor held in a sigh and stood up. She looked at her dress once more and gently ran her fingers through the soft material. "Oh well. I suppose the dress will just have to do as it is."

And once again was a loud screeching voice which could only be identified as Sharpay that almost made Taylor feel like her ears would fall off.

"TAYLOR!!!"

"Alright, alright. I'm coming!" Taylor called as she headed out the door and down the stairs.

Zeke and Jason exchanged glances before going over to the door, watching Taylor leave.

"Why girwies so mean to Tay Tay?" Jason asked Zeke.

"They a buncha dodos." Zeke folded his arms.

Jason raised an eyebrow. "I thought they was girwies."

"Yeah but they also dodos. Never give Tay Tay no bweak. Never ever." Zeke sat down, keeping his arms folded. "All she wanna do is go to da ball but they no let her. Work this, do dat, go here, go dere. They tell her to do everything."

"Wisn't dat like Cinderelly?" Jason asked.

"Who Cinderelly?" Zeke asked.

"She in stowy book." Jason answered.

Zeke shook his head. "We don't got no stowy book."

"Jay Jay's gotta point." Martha said as she climbed onto the basket just in front of the book. "Girl made sevant by family. They make her do all dese chores to stop her from goin to da ball."

"Hey!" Zeke gasped. "Dat is just like Tay Tay!"

Jason chuckled. "Tolded ya."

"Taylor!" Tiara yelled again.

Zeke stood up and turned to Jason. "You wight, Jase Jase!" he exclaimed. "Tay Tay is just like Cinderelly. And every time she find a minute, dat's da time when they begin it! Cinderelly! Cinderelly!"

"TAYLOR!!!" Sharpay yelled once more.

Zeke stormed over to the door and just managed to slam it shut before putting his hands on his hips.

_"Cinderelly, Cinderelly,_

_Night and day it's Cinderelly_

_Make da fire, fix da breakfast,_

_Wash da dishes, do da moppin"_

Three female mice who looked alike, mainly having the same dress but each in shades of either purple, blue, or green, going by Emma, Jackie, and Lea, put one hand on their hip and shook their free singer joining together.

_"And da sweepin and da dustin_

_They always keep her hoppin"_

Zeke ran in circles until his body nearly became tangles like a pretzel. He then managed to untangle himself but only got dizzy himself in the process.

_"She go around in circles_

_Till she vewy, vewy dizzy_

_Still they holler"_

The three mice joined again, sighing.

_"Keep a busy, Cinderelly"_

"Yeah, keep a busy." Zeke sighed as he kicked an extremely tiny ball of yarn to the side. He glanced up at the gown in depression. As hopeless as he didn't want it to seem, that's exactly what it was. What chance did Taylor have of going to the ball? Her sisters were just going to give her more and more work to do. There'd be no chance. What good would it do to even try. They already lost. Stupid evil family. "You know what? Tay Tay not goin to da ball."

Martha's head picked up in shock when she heard Zeke's doubt. "What?"

"Not going?" the mice echoed.

"Whatchya mean?" Jackie echoed as her sisters exchanged glances.

"You see. They fix her." Zeke said looking at the floor. "It da same ting evewy day. Work, work, work. She'll never get her dress done."

Martha looked up at the dress and shoo kher head. As much as she hated to admit it, Zeke had a point. That step family was just pure evil. They'd do anything in their power to get their way, making sure Taylor would lose everything in the process. It was like as long as she was miserable and a servant in her own home...and they got everything they wanted...then they were happy. What a corrupt society.

Jason twidled his thumbs sadly, seeing Zeke's point. "Poor Cinderelly."

Zeke couldn't help but bonk Jason on the head. "Not Cinderelly, Tay Tay!"

Jason blinked, "Oh... sowwy." He looked down at the ground and twidled his thumbs again. "Poor Tay Tay."

Martha looked at the dress, then at the book. Taylor had such good plans what to do with that outfit, too. And with all the tailoring she had practiced over the years thanks to her step family, she'd be sure to make the most beautiful dress around. And Martha watched her; she saw Taylor work every time. About the only thing she thought they'd need to make a good dress were some good ideas and a beat. They were half way there. Wait a second....

"Hey, we can do it!" she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up.

Her friends looked at her with curiosity.

_"We can do it, we can do it_

_We can help our Cinderelly_

_We can make her dress so pwetty_

_There's nothing to it, really"_

Now the mice were really getting into the idea. Martha was not afraid to speak her mind sometimes and when she did, it really hit the others. She was the most observant mouse around. She probably had the best ideas. Why not listen to her? She was smart, she'd know what to do. And right now she hit the nail right on the head. Why couldn't they do it? Nothing was stopping them. They had everything they needed. They had each other, a large group of mice, along with the birds outside. The mice jumped for joy and started surrounding the book. Zeke and jason took hands and started jumping around happily. Jackie and her sisters Emma and Lea twirled their dresses and danced like they were at the ball. They were ready to work!

_"We'll tie a sash around it_

_Put a ribbon through it_

_When dancing at da ball_

_She'll be more beautiful than all_

_In da lovely dress we'll make for Cinderelly"_

The two birds from the morning flew in upon hearing the singing rodents. They exchanged glances and then nodded; they flew into the room, shortly followed by other birds. Together they started pulling everything they needed out of the basket. Yarn, string, scissors, knitting needles, ribbons, everything. When these friends were ready to work, they went all out.

_"Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry_

_Gonna help our Cinderelly_

_Got no time to dilly dally_

_We got to get a goin"_

Jason took the scissors and dragged them over to the group.

_"I'll cut it with these scissors!"_

Zeke took one of the knitting needles and skipped over happily.

_"And I can do da sewing!"_

Martha rolled her eyes and pulled the needle from Zeke.

_"Leave da sewing to da women"_

Zeke looked at the ground disappointed, folding his arms as Martha took a long pause.

_"You go get some trimmin"_

Now Zeke liked that idea. Oh well, it was close enough. He smiled and ran over ot the mouse hole in the room, signalling Jason to follow him. Jason dropped the scissors in an instant and followed Zeke. as they crawled through the mouse hole and through the house they could faintly hear the sounds of their friends starting to work.

_"And we'll make a lovely dress for_

_Cinderelly_

_We'll make a lovely dress for_

_Cinderelly!"_

"Hey Zeke?" Jason asked as he followed down the walls and over the ledges.

"Yeah Jase Jase?" Zeke replied looking back to make sure his friend was right behind him.

"Uh, how come da girwies get to do all da fun stuffs?" Jason asked.

"Whatchya mean Jase Jase?" Zeke raised an eyebrow. "We gets to look for da trimmin. We can look all over da house and find da bestest stuffs for Tay Tay's dress."

"But they get to do da sewin." Jason sighed.

Zeke used his tail to maneuver around a few nails sticking out of the walls and leaned up against one of the ledges, waiting for Jason to catch up with him before he answered.

"Yeah they do get all da fun." he realized.

"How come they no let us do dat stuffs?" Jason wondered.

"Who knows." he shrugged his shoulders. "Girwies is creepy."

Jason sat down and put his paws on his hips, pouting like a two year old. "I wanna do da sewin!"

Zeke pulled Jason up to his feet. "Sowwy Jay Jay. But we gots to do what we gots to do. Gots to help Tay Tay, member? Let the girwies do all da sewin they want. We ain't mice. We men." He stretched his arms and tried to show his muscles, acting all buff. "We don't need them to tell us what to do. We do what we want when we waint. Right?"

Jason's eyes widened before he jumped up. "Oh yeah! We manly mices!"

"Dat's right!" Zeke exclaimed. "Now let's go look for what we need. We'll show them when we have all da fun and they're stuck in da room bein all pinky."

"Yeah!" Jason jumped up and down.

Together, the 'manly mice' then finished making their way down to the bottom. It wasn't long before they reached a small crack in the wall, where one of their many mouse holes were. Zeke went in first, carefully walking over to it. He wiggled the door just a little bit before opening it carefully. He poked his head out, followed by Jason. Much to their surprise, they saw that they were in one of the many spare rooms. Up against one of the doors getting dress after dress thrown at her was Taylor. In front of her were the bickering stepsisters, desperate to look as beautiful as possible for the ball. They pretty much tossed everything they had at Taylor, at points even making sure that she purposefully missed catching them so they fell onto the floor and the girls could yell at her some more.

"Taylor, you need to fix this!"

"And take this, too!"

"No, this is more important! You'd better take this with you and make sure it gets done first!"

"And make sure this is extra clean! I don't want to wear something filthy!"

"Throw this out, it's degrading!"

"Fix the hem on this one!"

"I hate this orange dress! Change it to pink!"

"This one isn't frilly enough!"

It got to be so hectic that Taylor was now just working on holding everything and making sure to catch every item thrown at her, rather than just trying to keep up with what the sisters were saying. Just as she managed to maintain her balance and keep hold of every outfit, she turned to see her stepmother in the other doorway.

"Taylor," Darbus said, "When you're through, and before you begin your usual chores, make sure to plant some fresh flowers in the garden, the ones in there now are getting droopy. And don't forget to dry my own gown for tonight. I expect everything to be ready for us by the time our carriage gets here."

Taylor had no choice but to go along with it, as usual. "Yes, stepmother." She turned and opened the door she was near with her foot before exiting. Even as she disappeared down the hallway she could still hear Tiara's and Sharpay's complaints.

"Mother I don't see why I have to wear all these drags! They're disgusting!" Tiara complained.

"You wear drags? You wear drags?" Sharpay gasped, swinging a sash. "Look at what I'm stuck wearing! This old thing makes me look fat!"

Zeke and Jason watched as Sharpay dropped the sash to the ground. That looked like it would go very well with Taylor's dress. It was a very light shade of purple. Something like that could really bring out her eyes and maybge make the dress seem more lively...oh man now they were turning into girlie mice, not manly mice!

"Well what about these beads?" Tiara yelled as she threw them on the floor before kicking them. "I can't even stand to look at them!"

Zeke pointed to the blue beads that were just discarded. Jason nodded in agreement. Oh yeah, those would work well! They then looked back into the room and watched as the sisters followed Darbus out, complaining about one thing after another until they slammed the door behind them and their voices were no longer heard. With the room being empty and the lights out, now was the perfect time for the boys to go into action. They made their way out of the mouse hole and stopped under a foot stool ,just to double check that the coast was clear.

"C'mon Jase Jase." Zeke whispered. "Just be carefy."

"Uh huh." Jason nodded in understanding. "Weal carefy."

What neither of them realized was, as they made their way over to the discarded sash, Ryan was sound asleep on the foot stool. Luckily he was a fairly heavy sleeper, so if they worked fast enough maybe they wouldn't be caught.

Zeke tugged on the sash a little and looked at it. "We can do dis, Jase Jase." He said as Jason walked over.

Jason chuckled as he rubbed his face against the garment. "It weally soft."

Zeke turned to look behind him and his eyes widened. He spotted the cat. Covering Jason's mouth with the sash, Zeke shushed him and pointed over to the feline.

"Lookit! Wyan!" he gasped.

Quickly getting under the sash, the mice grabbed it and started running back under the foot stool and to the mouse hole. As they did Ryan's eyes began to flutter open. At first he paid no attention to the seemingly moving sash. He was just stretching his paws and waking up. But then, something didn't seem right. He just couldn't put his claws on it. His eyes snapping open, he could see the moving sash under the foot stool. He leaned over and could see the mice rolling it up and getting inside, running from in there like they were in a log to stretch the garment as close to the mouse hole as possible. As soon as the mice hit the wall and they were unfurled out of the sash, Ryan sprung into action. Hissing, he jumped towards the rodents prepared to attack. Just barely seeing Ryan in the nick of time, Zeke and Jason struggled to get themselves - and the sash - into the hole as fast as they could. In the meantime, Ryan just struggled trying to catch the end of the sash closer to him. He almost had it, but the mice were just too quick. Ryan's head ended up hitting the wall just above the mouse hole, causing him to fall over. Ryan shook his head, snapping out of a mere temporary daze. He then sat in front of the hole, watching it very carefully. There was no way there could be another one in this room. He had them cornered. But then something else caught his attention, a light squeaky noise. He looked over to the other wall to see a cork-like door slowly opening from a hole in the wall. Poking their heads out were the mice, glancing around the room unaware that Ryan spotted them. As soon as Zeke saw what they were looking for, the beads laying across the room, he tapped Jason's shoulder and then pointed eagerly towards them. Jason followed his friend's gaze.

"Ooooh! Beads!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands together.

Just as he was about to say more, Zeke covered Jason's mouth. But it was too late; Ryan had already heard them. Looking at the beaded necklace, Ryan rushed over to protect them. He was going to get those mice one way or another. He smirked and sat down on the beads, knowing that there was no way for the mice to grab them now. Ryan glanced over at the mice; he could see Zeke whispering something into Jason's ear but he just couldn't make out what it was. He raised an eyebrow from confusion, then saw Zeke come out of the hole casually. Ryan smirked to himself and quickly sharpened his claws. He watched as Zeke came closer and closer. That's right, come for the beads. Cause he wasn't going to get them. That mouse was going to get something else. But much to Ryan's surprise, Zeke walked right past Ryan and went over to a jacket. He was going for the jacket, not the beads. Zeke was just pulling off the buttons from it. But he was still out in the open. Ryan slowly made his way over, and Zeke turned his head to watch; yet he didn't run away. He just looked behind him, then went back to snapping off the buttons with his front teeth. Ryan reached under his kitty hat to scratch his head. Something wasn't right here. He turned his head around to see Jason trying to sneak out of the hole. Realizing that they were actually trying to trick him - and catching onto it much quicker than usual - Ryan backed up and sat right back down on the beads, causing Jason to rush back into the hole. Getting that necklace would just have to wait.

Zeke saw what happened. But that wasn't going to stop him. He kept working at it with the buttons, singing to himself about baking. But Ryan knew there had to be a way around this. He wasn't sure how, but there had to be. He thought for a minute, trying to come up with the perfect solution. He briefly tapped his claws against the carpet as he thought. They wanted the beads...but if he was on the beads they couldn't get them...but there was one mouse right there for him to catch.... How could he stay on the beads and eat himself a mouse sandwich? It's not like he was a helpless baby, he could think of something. Wait a second...that's it! Ryan grinned. Keeping his bottom on the beads, he used his front paws to help him crawl across the room towards Zeke. Jason saw this from the mouse hole and gasped. Did Zeke even realize what was going on? Did they underestimate Ryan this whole time?

Zeke snapped off one last button as Ryan drew closer, raising his paw and ready to pounce. Zeke then brushed up the button he held against a lone one on the floor. The button flipped into the air, actually able to knock Ryan's hat off his head. Ryan shook his head. Oh no, they did not just get rid of his hat! Hissing, Ryan pounced. Zeke gasped and ducked into the pile of clothes nearby. Ryan meowed as he chased after the mouse, buried under all the stepsisters' clothes. All that could be seen of them was a large moving lump and the faint sounds of paws moving. As they did that, Jason ran over to the beads. He struggled to pick them up, trying his best to carry the whole necklace. By the time he just managed to get them in his hands, Ryan's head emerged from the clothes pile. He started digging through them looking for Zeke, and then saw Jason trying to escape with the beads. Oh shoot, they tricked him again! Not only was Jason getting away, but Zeke was nowhere to be found!

Little did Ryan know, that Zeke had actually made his way through Ryan's fur and was not on his hat-less cat head. Zeke turned his head to see if Jason was making a clean getaway. Jason was..until he tripped on part of the necklace that escaped his grasp, causing him to slide against it across the room and slamming into the wall. Zeke gasped and leaned forward, closing Ryan's eyes so the cat wouldn't see Jason...even though he sort of already did. Feeling Zeke do that, Ryan raised his paws to grab Zeke, but Zeke had jumped onto Ryan's nose, and then dove back into the clothes pile. After accidentally hitting his head with his own paws, Ryan saw Zeke and dove back into the pile after him.

As the chase continued, Jason did his best to gather all the beads together. He stuffed as many of them into his hat as possible, even though it was nowhere near big enough to fit them all. Zeke scurried through the sleeves of one of the frilly shirts and rushed to his friend's side to help. He actually picked up the beads and slid them onto Jason's tail, holding the end so they wouldn't fall off. But Ryan was still trying to go after them. He was only being held up because now he was trapped in the sleeve of the shirt. How he even fit through it to chase Zeke...well that was another story entirely. He tried his best to crawl over as fast as possible to grab the mice with his mouth. But there were still a lot of beads to go and there was the chance that Jason and Zeke might not actually make it. Jason was doing fine stuffing some of the beads into his hat, but his tail could only fit so many on it. Squeezing the last one in Zeke's reach on Jason's tail, only one bead was left by Jason. By that time Ryan was right on top of them. Jason reached over to grab the bead and saw that he was staring at Ryan's mouth. His mouth dropped open as he picked up the bead, but then he felt his tail being tugged on. Zeke had grabbed the end of his friend's tail and pulled him back into the mouse hole. He closed the cork behind him, leaving Ryan to just hit his head against the wall upon his final attempt to catch them. The mice had escaped and tricked Ryan once again. But what made it worse this time was that, now Ryan was stuck in a lacy sleeve with no hat.

By the time Zeke and Jason got back to the room, their friends were already hard at work preparing the dress. The birds were helping with the measuring, flying up to the derss and holding one end while the mice looked at the bottom to see how much of something they would need to cut. Martha started out by directing everyone on what to do, including give Zeke and Jason jobs. Of course, Jason had asked Martha why they got to do the sewing despite his and Zeke's conversation earlier. Martha just rolled her eyes and told him to get started. And when Zeke tried to ask if he could make any food, Martha just questioned how he could think about eating at a time like this. Getting hem on the scissors, the boys then had to cut the white dashed lines that Emma, Jackie, and Lea had drawn on some of the fabric. Of course, one of them had to jump out of the way, as Zeke and Jason almost accidentally snipped their tail with the scissors.

Three more of the mice sewed a thread through a separate piece of fabric, and Cronie took the string and flew it around the dress with the other birds before typing the remaining string on a nearby nail to hold it into place until it would be completely attached to the dress. Two more birds flew Zeke and Jason up to it and they lightly stuck a nail on each side of the sash to hold it in place. It was then that Cronie was able to let go of the string he held and then grabbed an apron with Martha in it, flying it up to the level. Holding a needle and thread in her hands, Martha stuck it through the sash and dress. It was then poked back out by a mouse inside the dress and so on and so forth until it was completely sewed on.

Two more birds flew up to the collar of the dress to see how much to add to it. Using a ruler, another bird Timothy looked at the number. He then used the feathers on his wings to translate how much would be needed to add there. Seeing the signal, Jackie began counting off the exact amount of the fabric she held. After getting past about three inches, another bird took the end she had already counted and began flying it up.

The mice then pulled over a shoe and tied it to a string. Lea was taken up to the top of the dress by one of the birds and then threw the long string over a ledge and down to the ground where the mice could reach it. Zeke and Jason began putting some thread and yarn into the shoe; when it was full up and Lea whistled, the three mice in waiting began to pull on the string, causing the shoe to rise up to Lea's level. Then, taking one of the threads and a needle in her hands, Lea began doing her part of the work to add a little pattern onto the dress.

Soon enough, the remaining part of the light purple sash would be used to create a bow tie. A pair of birds flew it up to the collar and tied it around so it stuck there. Timothy pointed to a loose end, as the sides were completely uneven. Cronie took Zeke and the scissors up to dispose of the extra end. Putting his feet through one of the scissors handles, Zeke was able to chop it off.

Time was now running out. It was almost time for the ball to begin and the mice were working well under the pressure. They hummed their little work song as they fixed the gown and they worked together in perfect harmony to get it done. They continued working into the early hours of the evening, just until the clock stuck eight.

* * *

Once again, sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up. I actually got through half of it during a break at school, but I'm finding it easier to work on my computer at home than on my laptop at school. And before finishing my loads of homework for the weekend...some of which I haven't started yet...I was able to complete this chapter. I think more happened in the beginning than in the end, but that's mostly because it was the work song so it was fun to write. In case it was hard to tell, the mice are actually creating Taylor's prom dress so I thought that would be a good way to HSM-ify the story a bit. I also had Zeke and Jason sort of make a little joke about the part in the song that said 'leave the sewing to the women'. I guess there's not too much else to say about this chapter, it pretty much speaks for itself. We had the work song - which had the actual lyrics as what you guys voted on for the song to be - we had Zeke and Jason tricking Ryan, everyone working, and...yeah that's pretty much it. I also changed the dialogue a bit when Sharpay and Tiara were telling Taylor what they wanted for the ball, as well as Darbus. I had typed that at school when I couldn't make the volume of the movie too loud, since I had no ear buds or headphones with me, so that explains why it's not the same as in the I think you guys all know what's coming next. It should be a fairly short chapter and I promise, I'll get it up as soon as possible. So now that I've taken up about five extra minutes of your time with this chapter and my seemingly useless author's notes, I'm grabbing some dinner! Have a nice night everyone and I can't wait to hear from you all!


	9. Chapter 8

Ok so I wanted to get in another update quickly, and I thought even though I still have homework to finish, now would be a good time. Aside from the fact that I don't have too much homework left to do till tomorrow, this chapter should also be pretty short so it seemed like a good time. Anyway, I'm hoping that I can get more updates when I have less homework but so far that hasn't been working out. But Spring Break is in a few weeks, so keep your ears open for updates then (don't worry, i'll say later when it is cause I'm just too lazy to check the exact week at the moment. XD). Now before we move onto this chapter, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed the story so far: RockyShadow, ActingPrincess, Chaylorfan4eve1994, Ambinlovewlove, MermaidRam85, Chaylorxtraylorlover101, HeartsWereNeverMeantToRace, and WhyDoesItHaveToRainOnMyParade.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing. If i did, I'd be rich enough to afford all the art supplies i needed for school...which I don't. So i own nothing.

* * *

By eight o'clock countless guests were already appearing for the ball at the castle. Carriages were lining up outside the doors letting the passengers out and beautiful women exited them in the fanciest ballgowns money could buy. As some of the carriages left upon their passengers making their entrance, they began making more runs around the kingdom, most likely to pick up more ladies. The King watched as all the women entered the castle, excited to see which one his eldest son would choose. The plan was absolutely foolproof, despite Troy's lack of support. Or maybe it was his doubt. There was something that just made him act in such disbelief. But King Jack was sure that this was going to work. And even though there were still as many girls as families in the kingdom to arrive, the ones who were walking in now were absolutely stunning. Below, as a pair of girls left their carriage, the carriage then turned around and headed back towards town. It made its way towards Taylor's home, where he was summoned earlier to pick up three ladies. And as bored as the horseman looked, all he could do was shrug his shoulders and think, "hey it's a living".

But even though all the girls for miles seemed to be preparing for the ball, there was still one that had yet to get ready. One who wasn't even going to be attending at this rate. That one girl was Taylor. Hearing the clock strike at the house, Taylor picked up her broom. She had just finished the last of the sweeping and therefore completing all the chores she had been given. And although that was part of the bargain, there was still one half that was not fulfilled. She had nothing to wear. Taylor had come to the conclusion that her mother's dress just would not do. There wasn't even enough time to make the slightest adjustment to it. As nice as it was compared to her cleaning clothes and whatnot, it might have still been considered rags. It just wouldn't suit a ball of this caliber. Sad, but true. Taylor was coming to the conclusion now that this just wasn't her night. She had gotten her hopes up higher than ever only to bring them down again. There was just no escaping reality. She could try to have faith in her dreams and hide all the torture she's been dealt. She could stand up for what she believes in and not get pushed around nearly as much as she does now. Or she could just do what she had to do with her head held high and showing no fear. Taylor could do all that and more. But it just wasn't enough to give her one night to herself, one night out on the town to make her dreams come true.

Walking over to one of the front windows, Taylor could see the headlights of a carriage approaching. As soon as it stopped in front of the house, she knew it was for her step family. Right on time. Of course, knowing her stepsisters it would take them much longer to get ready, leaving the man and horse out there for at least another fifteen minutes. But that still left Taylor no time to even try to get ready for the ball. Walking away from the window, Taylor walked over to her stepmother's door and lightly knocked on it. They'd have her head if she didn't tell them that their ride was outside.

Within seconds, Darbus opened the door wearing her evening wear which was pretty much no different from the clothes she wore during the day. The only difference in it was the coloring, really. And she might have put on a different pair of glasses to make her look less old. "What is it, Taylor?"

"The carriage is here." Taylor answered simply, barely allowing any emotion to show through. She wasn't going to let these people know that she was down about not going. It wasn't any of their business anyway. All she had to do was act like it was another night, where they would go out somewhere fancy and she would be left home to finish the chores.

"Of course." Darbus said. She opened the door more and watched as Taylor started to walk away. Darbus changed her voice to make it sound more caring and sincere. "Why Taylor honey, you're not ready."

Taylor stopped walking and just stood straight up and defiantly. She kept her voice the same, but even though she was still holding a brave face she refused to turn to them. "I'm not going."

"Not going?" Darbus asked curiously. She then smiled to herself and turned to Sharpay and Tiara, who were just wearing tank tops and the bottom half of their dresses, not to mention some curling irons in their hair. As soon as the sisters saw their mother's reaction, they exchanged glances and held in their laughter. It looked like they won once again. No surprise there. "That's a shame." Darbus continued. "But there will be other times."

Taylor didn't want to stand around and hear anymore of this. And she certainly didn't need any pity - fake or not. "I'm sure. Good night." With that, she headed up to her room in the tower leaving the evil step family to their happy little evil moment knowing that they had won this round. Have we mentioned that they were evil?

Heading up the tower, Taylor rested her broom against the doorway. The only light coming from the darkened room was from a window with a wonderful view of the kingdom, the castle glimmering in the night sky. Taylor walked over to the window and took in the landscape. It looked like just about everyone was going. It was sure to be a spectacular event. And knowing that everyone was going to be there, that it was such a big event, and that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, it wasn't helping Taylor to try and see it as not a big deal. Nevertheless, she tried to convince herself that she was missing nothing important.

"Oh well," she shrugged her shoulders as she leaned up against the windowsill, "who wants to go to the ball anyway? It's nothing but a bunch of girls in makeup trying to use their looks to impress boys anyway. There's balls around here all the time, I'm sure there's nothing different about this one. After all, I suppose it would be incredibly boring and dull and just completely..." Taylor fiddled with her fingers on the windowsill a little and looked away from the castle for a moment. She then picked her head up and looked at it again. Who was she kidding? She was being a total hypocrite right now. Taylor kept trying to tell herself that even though it could have been her one chance that she wouldn't want to go to the ball anyway. That it was nothing special and everyone would just be standing gawking over the prince like he was the hottest thing since Swiss cheese or something. But she still wanted to go. Not because it would be her one night of freedom. Alright, mainly that. But in this time and age, what girl wouldn't want to get dressed up and go to the ball, having the time of their life and maybe even have it turn into a fairy tale and meet their prince charming or knight in shining armor? Taylor let out a sigh and just stared at the view in envy. "...and completely wonderful."

But the view for her didn't last too long. Seconds later, Taylor felt a little heat behind her. That only happened when there were candles lit. But there weren't any...if there were then the room wouldn't be so dark. And why was she feeling this sense of light behind her, anyway? Quirking an eyebrow, Taylor turned around. Her eyes fell on the closet in the corner. Nearly adjacent to that was a desk with a lit candle on it, which surely wasn't lit a few seconds ago. The closet doors then began to open; from the inside, Taylor could see the birds Skater and Crony pushing the doors open and revealing a dress hung inside. It was certainly Taylor's mother's dress...but not as she left it. The top of the dress was nothing but red and purple; the sleeves had been fixed exactly to her liking and the turtleneck of it was complimented with a gorgeous bow tie. The once plain and poofy bottom now had a delightful pattern to it and even what looked like a little sash to it, which looked incredibly similar to the bow tie. Everything Taylor had intended to do to the dress...everything she wanted to add to it...that dress she'd been dreaming about all day...the perfect way to combine her mother's style and the contemporary fashions...it was right there in front of her.

"Oh my god..." Taylor gasped, "it's my..."

She stopped in surprise when all the mice popped out of their hiding places with big smiles and waving their arms.

"Surprise!"

"Surprise!"

"Surprise!"

"And uh...happy birthday!"

Zeke looked at Jason who had just said that last part, as well as all the other mice in confusion. Had Jason not been listening this entire day?

"No, no, no! Not her birthday yet!" Zeke gasped. He then pulled Jason closer and muttered into his ear, "That not for few months. And then I da one who sew and bake a cake."

"Oooooohhhh...." Jason nodded in realization. "Gotcha."

Taylor smiled widely and carefully took the dress off the hanger. She just looked at it in awe before holding it close to her and spinning around. It was a dream come true. "I've never dreamed.... It's such a surprise! How could I ever...?" She looked around at her mice friends, knowing that this would have been totally hopeless without them. Taylor now had the chance to go out on the night of her life and it wouldn't have been possible without the help of them. They were the best friends a girl could ask for...even if they were rodents. She owed everything to them. Taylor had no idea how she would ever be able to repay them for all of this?

"Thank you all. Thank you so much." she told them gratefully. That was all she could honestly say for now. And judging from their wide smiles and the glow of their eyes, her happiness was enough repay for them. Well...that, and if she could just go and have fun. But for Taylor, that just wouldn't be enough to thank them. She was going to go out and have the night of her life and keep reminding herself how it was made possible. For now, until she had an even better way to thank them, that was all she could do. But for the mice, that was more than enough.

---

Almost right on schedule, descending down the stairs and towards the door fifteen minutes later, was the step family. Darbus had accompanied her evening wear with a wrap around her head to hide the grayness of her hair. Tiara was behind her mother, walking as much like a lady as possible. Her green dress was absolutely flashy, one of the puffiest dresses around. A thin headband had been placed in her hair, along with a feather just to make it look even better, and her hair from the neck down had been curled. Her heeled shoes helped make her look as tall as her sister, and she had a thick green eyeshadow along with some glittery lipstick and lip gloss. Sharpay was last in line with a dress identical to Tiara's, only in pink. Unlike her sister's hair, all of Sharpay's locks were curled. A pink barrette kept some bangs out of her face, which was also accompanied with a feather. Her makeup consisted of blush, pink eyeshadow, and glittery lipstick; but of course, nearly all of Sharpay's makeup was full of glitter. She attempted to walk even more lady like than her sister, who had the lady like pose and dignified look down. These girls were ready to meet the prince and they were not leaving the ball tonight without becoming a part of the royal family. The sisters were nothing but confident.

Darbus stopped in front of the door just to give her daughters some final instructions before their departure. "Now remember girls, when you're presented to His Highness make sure to-"

"Wait!"

The stepmother's voice was interrupted by what sounded like Taylor's voice. Darbus turned around in shock and the sisters' mouths dropped open. They were in more disbelief than ever as they saw Taylor come down the stairs as fast as possible in her dress. A dress that actually looked suitable for the ball. SHE actually looked suitable for the ball! How was this possible? Taylor had specifically stated that she was not going. Darbus had given her chore after chore to be sure that there was no way possible Taylor could attend. The bargain they had made was fool proof. Taylor's hopes would get up so high only to be shattered by the time the carriage got there. Sharpay and Tiara were to annoy her to no end and be sure to give her even more laundry and sewing to do. Everything was supposed to stop her from doing this very thing! How could this be possible?

"Please wait for me!" Taylor called as she came down the stairs. She looked absolutely stunning in her dress. As old fashioned as it may have seemed, even just the slightest bit, it fit her perfectly. The tone of the dress complimented her skin and figure. A purple headband had been placed in her hair to mimic the shade of the dress' and a beaded necklace was resting against her chest. And even though the only makeup Taylor was wearing was lip gloss, she didn't need anymore. With the dress and her natural beauty, this woman could have stopped any man in their tracks...including the prince. The step family could not have that! Nevertheless, Taylor stood in front of them with a bright smile, feeling better than ever not just in her gown, but that she could go to the ball despite everything they had thrown at her.

"Isn't the dress lovely?" Taylor asked them. "Do you think it will do?" Not that she expected an honest opinion from them, of course. But that didn't mean she couldn't rub it in their faces. And it certainly didn't mean she couldn't go now. They'd have to let her leave with them and they could go to the ball together. There was no stopping her now. With this victory, Taylor felt her confidence grow. But even with this success, Taylor still kept a strong face and resisted the urge to smirk. Take this, step family.

Sharpay and Tiara gasped dramatically. They weren't sure what outraged them more: the fact that Taylor had actually beaten them and she could go to the ball, or that...dare they say it?...that she actually looked prettier than them! The girls could not let Taylor get away with this.

"Mother she can't!" Tiara gasped.

"You wouldn't let her!" Sharpay added, tugging on Darbus' dress.

"She doesn't have the right!" Tiara added, grabbing Darbus' arm.

"She has no right!"

"There's no way she can!"

"You can't let her go!"

"She's not allowed to!"

The girls' fussing continued until Darbus shushed them. "Girls, girls! Please." Yes, that kept them quiet. At least for now. Darbus turned and her eyes fell on Taylor. But she wasn't just looking at her because she was sort of talking to her. Darbus had an ulterior motive, it seemed. Taylor couldn't put her finger on it, but she definitely did not like it. Even the mice, who were watching from the floor above, were getting a bad feeling about this.

"After all, we did make a bargain. Didn't we, Taylor?" Darbus asked.

Taylor kept her smile on and nodded. She wasn't going to back down so easily just because Darbus knew how to scare her a little. "Yes, stepmother. I believe we did."

"And I never go back on my word." the stepmother said as she approached Taylor. That was when Taylor's smile faded. There was a look in Darbus' eyes...so sinister...as she drew closer. There was a tone in Darbus' voice that just seemed so...well, just plain full of evil. Darbus was giving off this terrible vibe that she hasn't lost just yet. That she was about to pull out the heavy artillery. And that's what scared Taylor the most. Her stepmother was an actress. She could sound caring and sweet whenever she pleased, much like earlier when Taylor had said she wasn't going. She could make anyone think they won something when in fact they were about to lose. That's what she was doing now. And to know that Darbus wasn't even trying to hide her tone of voice or this glare in her eye told Taylor that something was about to go terribly, terribly wrong.

From above, Jason tilted his head in confusion. He looked at Zeke and Martha, both of whom did not look convinced by Darbus' act. Zeke looked suspicious. He was rubbing his chin and raising and eyebrow. He could just tell that something was up. He didn't like where it was going, either. And Zeke, not only being the leader of the mice but also an amazing and loyal friend, was very protective when he wanted to be. He was protective of Jason when Ryan was after him. And he was just as protective of Taylor when the step family was about to try something like this. Then there was Martha, who just put her hands on her hips and glared at Darbus. She sure didn't like that woman either. She had been one of the first to see, even before Taylor would tell them of how evil the stepmother could be, what a bad woman she was. It was all obvious to her. And even now there was something obvious to her that Jason, and maybe even a few of the other mice, just couldn't see. The main problem with that for these little guys, was that if something were to happen so quickly then there was no way they would be able to make it down the stairs in time to help Taylor nor even serve as a decent distraction long enough. Seeing his friends' gazes at Darbus, Jason mimicked the gaze and glared at Darbus as her elderly fingers lightly played with the beads around Taylor's neck.

"How very clever. These beads.... They give it just the right touch." Darbus told Taylor. She then turned to Tiara, "Don't you think so, Tiara?"

Darbus was using a tone. A bad tone. And it was even more evident now. But Tiara didn't catch on right away. What she was more mad about was Taylor's beauty. Tiara was younger than her, so how could an older woman loko prettier...or even hotter? It made Tiara steam. Turning away from them, she folded her arms and answered her mother's question. "No i do not. I think they're..." Then she stopped in mid sentence. She unfolded her arms and slowly turned back to Taylor. She gasped dramatically and gave Taylor a look that said something very inappropriate for a Disney movie. Luckily she didn't say what she was thinking...it was rather, censored. "Why you little thief! Those are my beads!" Tiara then grabbed the beads and ripped them right off of Taylor. "Give them back!"

Taylor gasped and nearly jumped back, grabbing her neck as that happened. How was she to know that they were Tiara's beads? How were the mice even supposed to know? Alright, maybe Taylor had an inkling.... But Tiara was the one who called the beads garbage. She only wanted them back because Taylor had them. But that wasn't the end of it, not by a long shot.

"And look, that sassy witch is wearing my sash!" Sharpay exclaimed angrily as she ripped the sash off of the bottom of Taylor's dress, nearly causing Taylor to fall over and lose her balance.

"And that's mine too!" Tiara screamed pulling some thread off the dress' pattern.

"And there it is again!" Sharpay yelled, ripping the bow tie right off of Taylor.

The girls kept screaming, yelling, and tearing apart every inch of the dress that they could. It didn't even matter that Taylor was wearing one little thing that belonged to each of them. They just wanted to see her look like a troll doll. Not the little troll dolls kids loved so much with the cool hair, but more like an ugly troll doll. They scratched and clawed at the gown, causing tears and rips of all things on it. Taylor's headband was ripped clear off her head, messing up her hair. Her hair became even more messed up as her turtleneck was ripped and back-lashed her head. The sleeves were tugged at until they became nonexistent, almost ripping an entire side of the dress along with them. The bottom of the dress was attacked until there was no poof left in it. What was left of the collar of the dress was ripped and pulled down so it looked like a ripped, broken zipper that stopped just short of her chest. And unfortunately, Taylor was powerless to stop them. They were just too fast for her. They yelled at her and kept tearing the dress apart. What might have horrified her the most was that the step family would stoop this low and go this far just to stop her from having one night out.

"Girls, girls." Darbus said calmly after what seemed like ages have passed. Sharpay and Tiara stopped what they were doing and turned to the door as Darbus opened it. They picked up their dresses as to not trip over them while they walked, then head their heads high and strutted out in their best lady like positions that they started in. Darbus stayed by the door until they were out. "That's quite enough. Now let's hurry along. I won't have you fretting over something so meager." But that didn't stop Darbus from, just before closing the door, turning back to Taylor and smirking her evil grin. Then the door was closed and the lights went out, only leaving Taylor to stand in a pile of destroyed fabric and on a broken dream.

* * *

So we went from depressed to happy right back to depressed. That's pretty much how it goes with this movie, isn't it? Writing the part where the sisters were tearing at the dress was just a little difficult. I didn't want to get too descriptive with it because I didn't rate this story as T. Then again, the movie wasn't so descriptive with the attacking either because it's a kid's movie. Which also explains why Tiara might have been thinking something like "you little -word that rhymes with witch-" and said "you little thief" instead. I know this chapter wasn't very long, but the next one will be even longer and I hope that until then, this will satisfy. We're getting closer to the ball, but before the ball comes the fairy godmother! Who will you see as that character next time? Well...you'll find out whenever I have the time to type it up and post it. And of course hear the next song. I will leave you all with that for now, and I can't wait to hear what you guys think of the chapter. c:


	10. Chapter 9

Ok so I know i've been on spring break all week and i promised updates. But unfortunately things did not turn out that way. I've spent most of the time doing homework and in my free time seeing my friends and playing the new pokémon heartgold game (I chose Totodile. ^^). Alright, and i also watched the Princess and the Frog but really, how can you buy a new movie and wait to watch it? Anyway I started this chapter before spring break so before I go out for the weekend and finish the rest of my homework I'm going to keep this going. For all of you who have been waiting in anticipation it's time to meet the one and only, drum roll please.... Fairy Godmother!  
Disclaimer: I don't own the movies, characters, song, or anything.

* * *

Taylor stood in the middle of the main room staring at her ripped dress. As much as she would have loved to hit her stepsisters, she knew it wouldn't have done any good. Besides she couldn't even let herself do such a thing. She was too heartbroken. Her one chance to get out for the night and they wrecked it. There was no hope in even trying now. She was already behind so she might as well give up. She could do nothing else. Taylor turned around and just ran as far away from the door as she could. She rushed through the house, breathing heavily and trying to see where she was going through her quickly blurring vision. Exiting the back of the house, she rushed into the rather large backyard. She didn't care if anyone saw her, she just kept running. The only ones that even were seeing her run were Donny and Jimmie who were right near the stables, and the mice who were doing their best to follow her. But even though they were all hoping that Taylor was alright, they knew she wasn't. And there was nothing they could do to help. Taylor soon found herself unable to run any further and just collapsed onto a bench under a small tree. She leaned onto it and buried her face in her arms finally letting her emotions out. Taylor was never one to show how upset she really was. Even her animal friends saw her as a strong, brave woman. But in this darkest moment she couldn't have felt weaker. There was no sense keeping her emotions bottled up anymore. She just let everything out that she kept bottled up for so long, sobbing onto the bench.

"It's hopeless." she sniffed to herself, never feeling this down since her father died.

The mice watched by the back door sadly, unable to see their friend like this. Donny and Jimmie exchanged depressed glances before they looked back at her, not even taking notice to what seemed to be tiny sparkles floating in midair.

"It's just no use. No use at all."

Donny sniffed the air; looking around he could see a bit of a light that almost looked like it was coming from nowhere. He jumped, beginning to see the sparkles. What the heck were these things and where were they coming from? He backed away slowly, a bit afraid of the unknown substances. In the process he backed into Jimmie, who also jumped out of surprise. He looked down at Donny and then suddenly around. Something about this just wasn't right.

"I can't.... I just can't anymore."

Zeke and Jason, along with two other fellow mice slowly jumped down from the step in the back and approached just a little. While nearly overcome with depression, they were just as surprised to see the strange light as Donny and Jimmie were. They looked at each other in confusion before looking back at Taylor. Even though it was hard to believe, the light was coming from her. No, not from her...behind her? In front of her? But there was something around her. Whatever it was, it was what was causing whatever they were seeing. The rodents couldn't even think straight now because they were all so confused. Except for Jason, who was just trying to hit the sparkles like they were fireflies. Noticing it briefly, Zeke turned to his friend and rolled his eyes. Putting his hands on Jason's shoulders, he then turned Jason towards Taylor so he could see what was going on. Jason's mouth dropped now watching what the others had been. That was some creepy light...but pretty...but also creepy...in a very pretty way.

"Nothing can fix this now. It's hopeless."

Then suddenly, before the animals' eyes, a strange figure began appearing on the bench. It looked like a bright light shadow at first, but it slowly became what looked like a silhouette of a person. Then the person started being seen. And from the looks of it, Taylor's head was on a woman's lap not the bench. There was a blue robe...a long one that seemed to cover a woman's entire body. It was a light blue color and had a magenta ribbon at the collar. The robe went on to act like a hood, covering most of the woman's head. From what they could see of her, she was very short and young. But her hair was white and somewhat wavy. A pair of glasses nearly blocked her eyes but even the animals could tell that they were full of compassion and kindness. As she became more clear, one of her hands began lightly moving on Taylor's head, almost as though to rub her head and comfort her. But Taylor had barely even taken notice. She didn't even once lift her head when she felt something change.

"Nothing."

"Nothing dear? Now you don't really mean that do you?" the woman spoke, nearly causing the animals to become more spooked than they were. On the bright side, they knew they weren't all hallucinating.

Taylor paused for a minute, knowing something wasn't right. She was the only person at home right now so there couldn't have been anyone else. While her instinct would normally have told her to look up and see what was going on, she just assumed that it was her imagination. She shook her head, "I do."

"You know that's not true." she replied, lightly lifting Taylor's head. "If you lost all hope, then I wouldn't be here right now. and here I am."

Taylor looked up at her and gasped. Where did she come from? This had to have been a dream or something...people just don't appear from out of nowhere. There had to be a logical explanation. Too stunned to open her mouth and speak, Taylor remained quiet and the woman continued talking.

"Cheer up now. After all, you can't go to the ball looking like that." she said.

Taylor looked down at her torn dress. "The ball?" That was the last thing on her mind now. There was no way something like that was even possible. What was left of her dress was all she had. There was nothing else she could wear. Even if she could go to the ball she'd never make it there in time if she left now. Whoever this woman was, Taylor thoguht it best to set her straight. "But I'm not going."

"Of course you are. Fairy godmother's orders." she answered.

Taylor raised an eyebrow. Now she knew she was dreaming. "Fairy godmother?"

"Well, Kelsi the fairy godmother if you want to get technical." she shrugged her shoulders. "But we usually just go by fairy godmother. Our names are just in the robes when we do laundry. Believe me, you do not want to grab the wrong robe when you come out to work. I accidentally grabbed the fairy godmother Monique's dress once..." she took a moment to shudder, "well let's just say red is very flattering on her, but me, not so much."

"But you're so young..." Taylor couldn't help but observe. She was still under the impression that this was a dream.

Kelsi looked up to her hair. "Oh this old thing?" She pulled her white hair off, revealing some very silky brunette bangs underneath. "It was part of an old Halloween costume. Part of a bet. But enough about that." She stuck the wig back on and turned back to Taylor. "We haven't got much time. Even miracles take a little time."

"Miracles?" Taylor quirked an eyebrow.

Kelsi nodded. "I'll show you." She rolled up her sleeves and held up her hand like she was holding something. She waved her fingers but nothing happened. Looking to her hand, Kelsi realized her hand was empty. "Now don't tell me I left it in the music room again! I could have sworn I grabbed it on the way out. I know it has to be around here somewhere." She began searching through her sleeves for the lost item.

"What are you looking for?" she wondered.

"My wand." Kelsi answered. "I always have it with me. But so much of my time is spent in the music room...someone always grabs it and uses it to play the drums while I'm on the piano. I thought I grabbed it before I left, though.... I was sure of it."

"Your wand?" Taylor repeated. Than her eyes widened, almost like a realization. She had no idea why, but something about that just made her believe she wasn't dreaming. "You are my fairy godmother!"

"Of course I am. I've got the wig and the blue robe to prove it." Kelsi shrugged as she continued searching for her wand. "Now where is that thing?" The she blinked and giggled. "Oh yes, that's right. How could I forget? I put it away." Then, almost out of thin air, she pulled out a small thin stick which was none other than the missing wand.

Taylor's eyes widened. The wand had been pulled from out of nowhere. If she wasn't seeing it then she surely wouldn't have believed it.

"Lookit what she did!" Zeke gasped to his mouse friends, pointing at the fairy godmother.

"But er um...how she do it?" Jason asked. "She a zombie?"

Zeke rolled his eyes and lightly bonked Jason on the head. "She a faiwy godmother, not zombie. Pay tention, dude."

"Alright, now we need to start somewhere." Kelsi said as she tapped her wand on her chin. "And I'd say that the first thing we need above anything is..."

Taylor lightly placed her hands on her dress in anticipation. Obviously she couldn't go to the ball without a new dress. Taylor was no girlie girl who fretted about her looks day in and day out like her stepsisters, but even she knew how important it was to look magnificent for an event of this caliber.

"A pumpkin!" Kelsi exclaimed, pointing her wand in the direction of a very big pumpkin in the back garden.

Taylor quirked an eyebrow and looked in the direction. The animals did as well, feeling just as confused. "A pumpkin?" she repeated.

"Yes of course a pumpkin. You've got to get to the ball somehow." Kelsi replied. "Now how did those magic words go again...? Oh yes, that's right." She tapped her wand a little to get what looked like some magic dust flowing out of it. The tip of the wand sparkled with the dust as she then waved it in the direction of the pumpkin. As Kelsi sang the magic words a long line of magic dust began flying towards the pumpkin, surrounding it and bringing it to life.

_"Sala-gadoola-menchicka-boo-la-Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo_

_Put 'em together and what have you got?_

_Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo"_

The pumpkin began approaching the girls moving only on its leaves and roots. In a very cartoon-like manner it came closer and closer, causing the mice to run out of the way as to not get splatted by the vegetable. The pumpkin stopped just short of the girls, slightly moving to the sound of Kelsi's contagious magic. It was no wonder this fairy godmother spent so much time in the music room.

_"Sala-gadoola-menchicka-boo-la-Bibbidi-bobbity-boo_

_It'll do magic, believe it or not_

_Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo"_

The roots and leaves on the plant began spreading and growing out, twisting in numerous circles. It began surrounding a small portion of the backyard, going past the girls and animals. Taylor watched in amazement as Kelsi just waved her wand and the mice were still trying to make sure that they wouldn't get hit. None of them had any idea what this pumpkin could be used for the ball, but there had to be something or else why would Kelsi be using all this magic on it?

_"Now sala-gadoola means mechicka-boolaroo_

_But the thingmabob that does the job is _

_Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo"_

Jimmie and Donnie nearly ran away as the pumpkin began growing bigger. The mice ran even further away as the vines and roots grew and twisted. Kelsi began waving her wand numerous times and as she did, the pumpkin grew even bigger in size. With each flick of the wand, the pumpkin began to glow and lost its color. Instead of a hallow orange food, it was beginning to form some sparkling blue, voluminous...thing. The vines were even turning blue themselves, almost looking as though the twists they were making were turning into wheels.

_Sala-gadoola-menchicka-boo-la-Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo_

_Put 'em together and what have you got?_

_Bibbidi-bobbidi bibbidi-bobbidi bibbidi-bobbidi-boo_

Before their very eyes, the pumpkin had become a magnificent coach. It had the very same form as the pumpkin, but was now used for transportation. The light blue coloring of it was still coated in the fairy dust and it was a little more than twice the size of the girls. In the front where the coachman would sit, the seat looked very much like a blue leaf, but a very comfortable leaf. There was a single door on one of the sides which seemed to have an almost golden boarder and some very nice light red curtains on the inside. The only way to describe such a ride was magnificent. The mice approached the coach and began exchanging glances, trying to figure out how Kelsi really did that and if it was really a ride. Jimmie approached it with a confused look and Donnie began sniffing the object out of curiosity. Taylor began circling the coach in complete disbelief and amazement.

"It's beautiful!" she exclaimed.

"Why thank you." Kelsi giggled. "I've had a lot of practice." She then glanced at the horse standing beside her. "Don't you think it's a lovely ride, too?"

Jimmie smiled and nodded happily. No one ever asked for his opinion on something before. He felt so special!

"No an elegant coach like this just can't go without..." Kelsi thought aloud.

Jimmie grinned and cleared his throat. It would need a horse to pull it, now wouldn't it? What a coincidence! Jimmie was a horse. She'd be asking him to pull it and ride his friend off to that fancy dance in no time.

"Mice!" Kelsi finished.

Jimmie's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

The mice who were now under the coach tilted their heads. Jason looked at his friends, even more confused than they were. As usual. "Mice?"

Kelsi had heard that. "Oh yes, four brilliant mice just simply need to lead this coach to the ball. It can't go anywhere without mice." She then began waving her wand to let the magic flow once again. "Just a wave of my stick to finish the trick..." She watched as the mice slowly began coming out from under the coach, most likely as to try to avoid being seen. But then Kelsi waved her wand and the magic surrounded them...or, at least three of them. "Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!"

_Sala-gadoola-mechicka-boo-la-bibbidi-bobbidi-boo_

Now sitting in place of the stunned Zeke and his two companions were three gorgeous horses. Their fur was almost a blue-grey color as to match the shade of the coach and their manes were short but in a lovely white. Their tales matches the white of their manes but were longer and absolutely fluffy. Their reigns were almost as shimmering gold as the coach's door and resting in their manes were a nice pink feather. The mice - or rather now horses - were looking at each other and their now bigger and fitter bodies in shock. Whoa, that was some magic!

"See, now that's what I'm talking about. Absolutely perfect." Kelsi said. "Wait a minute..I was sure there was one more...." She began looking around to find the missing Jason. Shining her wand around, she soon enough found him hiding behind one of the wheels. "There you are."

Jason gasped and tried to make a fun for it.

"Bibbidi-"

Nearly running into the cat, who smirked and held a tea cup over Jason's head, Jason gasped and tried to scurry in the opposite direction.

"Bobbidi-"

Ryan pounced on Jason, covering him with the teacup under the assumption that he was captured just as Kelsi waved her wand to finish the job.

"Boo!"

Ryan gasped as he suddenly felt himself suspended in the air. Before he knew it, he was sitting on something. Raising an eyebrow, he lifted the cup and looked for Jason underneath it. But he wasn't under there. Ryan screatched his head and looked around to see what was going on. But then he realized something he didn't really want to realize. He was sitting on a horse's butt. Ryan slowly turned his head to see the face of the animal, knowing it couldn't possibly be Jason. But just from looking at his eyes, it couldn't be any other mouse. And he looked very angry. Jason neighed right in Ryan's face, causing the cat to be quite frighted. He fell into a small pond of water and then dashed as fast as he could back into the house. Jason laughed and went with his friends to the front of the carriage where they were all standing.

"Oh that poor cat." Kelsi sighed shaking her head. She then shrugegd her shoulders, "But he deserved it I suppose. Anyway, where were we...?" She scratched her head with her wand and then nodded. "Oh yes. You just can't go to the ball without..."

Taylor held her dress again. This had to be it, she was going to get a new dress now.

"A horse."

Taylor's face fell. "A horse?" But the mice had already been turned into horses. How many more could they need?

"Yes yes, a horse!" Kelsi nodded as she turned to a now eager Jimmie. "Now normally you'd be on the front end of the reigns wouldn't you?"

Jimmie nodded.

Waving her wand, the magic then began lifting Jimmie in the air. It took him closer and closer to the coach, going over Kelsi and the mice-horses. "But tonight you'll be sitting in the driver's seat. No, not as a horse. But a coachman of course! Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!"

As soon as Jimmie was seated on the front seat, he was automatically turned into a human. He was a little on the short side, but he kept his messy brown hair which was now nearly covering one of his eyes with bangs. His skin was a normal shade, similar to Kelsi's, and he was wearing a shirt with a picture of a tuxedo on it. The hat on his head almost looked like a ski cap, but fit his head just like a normal hat. Jimmie looked to Taylor and smiled, revealing that the one thing he still had after going from animal to human was a pair of buck teeth.

"Well that should do it, I believe." Kelsi said. "Hm...except for one little thing to finish the job."

Taylor closed her eyes, preparing to be covered with the magic dust. This had to be it now, it had to be time for her new dress.

"Yes Donnie, that's right! You're playing footman tonight!" Kelsi exclaimed as the dust made its way to the dog, hopping him over to the coach door. "bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!"

The coach door opened as soon as Donnie got there. Donnie looked at himself over in complete surprise. Well he was sure no dog anymore. His skin was closer to the shade of Taylor's, but he was about the same height as Jimmie. His black hair was mainly covered by a small hat and his outfit was only a little better than Jimmie's, having a shirt and velvet black pants with a sports jacket. Talk about some transformation.

"Now you have to hurry up and go to the ball, we can't waste anymore time." Kelsi told Taylor.

"But..." Taylor started, almost not having the heart to tell her fairy godmother, the one that had just given her all this, that she couldn't leave in a destroyed dress.

"No, no, no, no need to thank me." Kelsi shook her head.

"I wasn't." Taylor replied. "I mean...I mean I do. I do thank you. But it's just that..." Now what was the most polite way to put this? "...don't you think my dress-?"

"Yes, it's a lovely dress. The best dress that anyone could ever ask for...." Kelsi said until she opened her eyes and actually looked at the dress. "Oh my god! You can't go to the ball in that!"

Taylor held in a sigh of relief. Finally, her fairy godmother noticed the one thing that Taylor had known from the start that she would need. Merely smiling, Taylor shook her head in response.

Kelsi approached Taylor and rested her wand against her, almost as though she were measuring her. "I'll have to see what I can do here. I mean, fancy dresses aren't exactly my style...my last fairy goddaughter went to a dance looking like a ballerina, you know." She shook her head before circling Taylor, almost surveying the perfect dress for her. "Now if we just measure your size.... And get something that will go good with the shade of your eyes.... Oh those are very nice eyes. Yes, definitely a very warm shade to match them. Or maybe just a light color. Hm.... Alright, just leave it to me, what a gown this will be!" Kelsi backed away just a little to let her magic work and smiled. She then did her thing, allowing the magic dust to engulf Taylor in its sparkles. "Bibbidi-bobbidi...bibbidi-bobbidi...bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!"

In no time at all, the torn dress that Taylor had been wearing for what felt like so long was replaced with the most extravagant gown Kelsi could conjure up. It was a stunning light blue, almost like a sky blue or periwinkle shade. The sleeves were incredibly short but also a little big, which matches the style of the waist line on the gown. The gown suited Taylor's figure perfectly, highlighting her curves in the right places. From the waist down the gown wasn't thin but it wasn't too poofy. A pair of long gloves that nearly went to her elbows matches the dress color and a black choker was around her neck suiting as the perfect accessory to match her hair. Her hair had been raised into a loose bun, only helping her appear slightly taller, and a few bangs were tilted towards one side ever so lightly. A headband to match the shade of the dress kept every strand just in its place. Taylor looked at the dress in awe, completely star-stricken by her fairy godmother's work.

"This is such a beautiful dress!" Taylor gasped, lifting the bottom so she could freely twirl around in it. Upon doing that, the silkiness and softness of the gown's material was only highlighted. "Have you ever seen such a dress?" she asked her friends. That's when she realized that wasn't all she got. Taylor lifted one of her feet and pointed at the footwear. "Glass slippers, too!"

Zeke and Jason smiled and nodded, only proving how amazing Taylor looked. Jimmie and Donny on the other hand...well, their jaws would have literally dropped to the ground if they could have. That's how shocked they were at her beauty. Even more than usual.

Taylor then went back to her fairy godmother. "It's like a wonderful dream." she realized. "A wonderful dream come true." After all that dreaming and hoping she'd been doing all these years, it was finally coming true. No drawbacks or anything. Well...at least nothing like what her stepsisters had done before. Taylor would have never believed that something like this could have ever been possible. Not to this degree. But it was. Everything was finally paying off for her.

"Well I'm very happy for you, really." Kelsi promised. "But there is one thing you should know. Because...well, like all dreams.... I'm afraid they can't last forever. the magic can only take you so far. It will last until midnight." Kelsi hated telling her this after getting her hopes up so high, but it had to be done. And it was the truth. She just hoped that she wasn't bringing this girl's dreams down because it could only be lived for a few hours.

Taylor shook her head and went over to Kelsi. "Alright. Until midnight. I've got it."

Kelsi stepped in front of Taylor. "You have no idea how important this is. Please listen, alright? On the stroke of twelve, the spell will be broken. And everything will be just as it was before."

"Oh I understand." Taylor promised. She wasn't one of those crazy party girls who would try to be out until five a.m. partying and doing who knows what else. She was responsible and knew exactly when to be home by. This was just like a curfew; and she knew very well how to abide to that. "But all of this...everything.... This is all more than I could have ever hoped for. Thank you so much."

"It's nothing, really. Don't you go..." Kelsi assured her, then stopped with a gasped. "Now wait a minute what are you still doing here? It's getting late! Hurry up dear, the ball can't wait!" She lightly pushed Taylor towards the coach and the young woman climbed in. Now you have a good time! Hurry, go and be happy! Dance, have fun! You're on your way!"

With that, the mice-forses began pulling the carriage and rode off on their way to the ball. Taylor briefly poked her head out of the coach window and waved to her fairy godmother.

Kelsi waved back with her wand and waited until they were out of sight before pulling out a pair of bongos and chop sticks. "This was also part of that bet." she mumbled lightly before poofing away in a small cloud of magic dust.

_Bibbidi-bobbidi Bibbidi-bobbidi Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!_

* * *

Hm...I was expecting this chapter to be a little longer. Maybe it's because from the first time I watched it and looked at how long the scene was. Oh well. The important thing is that the chapter turned out well. I was going to upload it yesterday but as soon as I finished typing it I had to run out and didn't get a chance to. Anyway, as we know now, Kelsi is the fairy godmother. I was trying to invoke her with the spirit of Cinderella's fairy godmother. Who doesn't love that character? She's so silly like and funny. xD And now it's thanks to her that Taylor can go to the ball. You all know you've been waiting for that chapter. ^^ I will try to get it up - or at least started - as soon as I can. Hope you all enjoyed the magic of this chapter!


	11. Chapter 10

Ok that was some spring break...no it really wasn't. I spent three of those days not doing homework and every other day was homework, so it was amazing I'd gotten that last chapter up. Probably not the smartest idea, cause now I've got Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo stuck in my head. Oh well. Anyway I hope you all are enjoying the story. It's about to get better. This is the chapter we've all been waiting for. We finally get to meet the Prince! Yes, the Prince in all of his royalty and...princy-ness. XD And for those of you who were wondering who the mystery footwoman is, you're about to find out! Enjoy the chapter of the official meeting between Taylor and Prince Chad!  
Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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The so-called 'welcome home ball' for the prince was anything but welcoming. As a matter of fact, it was downright boring. Try standing on a small pedestal and just bow politely to every woman that was coming your way to greet you, announced by the official footman - or rather, footwoman - by name and their lineage. This was certainly not the prince's idea of fun. He liked goofing off. He liked dancing. He liked to relax. He even liked to party once in a while. This was none of those things. If anything, it was making him want to fall asleep. Woman after woman in fancy attire and poofy dresses...why couldn't they be more normal? It wasn't like Prince Chad was always looking for the richest girls in the bunch. Sometimes the simpler things were better. In his many travels, he's learned that. He was a prince who lived a charmed life; not everyone else could have the same privileges as he did. As another woman approached, the young prince politely bowed as she curtsied and had no choice but to await the next one.

Being the elder child, Chad was the heir to his father's throne before Troy. He knew how his father ran the kingdom, and that was with a fair and gentle fist. Chad intended to follow in King Jack's footsteps and do the same. But it hadn't always been that way. When Chad was born their kingdom was trying to get out of a battle with a neighboring kingdom. He barely remembered it, having only been a toddler at the time. It was also at that time that Chad's mother had passed away. So while King Jack was off at battle or trying to make negotiations, the servants and other members of the castle were raising Chad. Luckily, it didn't go on for too long. The fight between kingdoms was settled peacefully, as the kingdom had married off their eldest single daughter to King Jack. It was shortly after that the new queen had Troy, although she had passed away in childbirth, leaving King Jack to raise both of his sons.

Chad had always tried to be the best big brother that he could to Troy. Sure they were brothers and they had their fights, argued about girls, disagreed on numerous topics, and had a few different interests, but they were still brothers and they were just that before anything else. Chad was never one to rub it in Troy's face that he would become king first, and Troy had never shown any jealousy. Troy was quite happy for his older brother, actually. And it was Chad who thought that Troy should have a high position so there could be a more equal ground between them. He didn't want it to end with a jealous brother who would do anything to get into power and get the king out of the way. So with that settled, Chad would always do the traveling like a good prince would and Troy would be at home to train and of course be his father's special adviser. Besides, King Jack was getting on in years and he couldn't be in even a small part of the castle on his own for too long.

With Chad's modest and loving upbringing, it was no wonder he grew into such a charming young man. His skin was a smooth cocoa shade and although his brown locks were insanely curly, they were tamed. At an event such as this, Chad would normally have his hair tied back into a pony tail. But with how late he had gotten back that day, he was lucky to have enough of a chance to change. His figure was fit and athletic, with even a few muscles showing from his sleeves. His silver shaded shirt went just below his waist, although it helped show off his physique with a belt tied around. Only a few areas such as his shoulders were glimmering with the silver of the shirt. A pair of blue pants and black shoes finished off his evening attire. As another woman approached the prince, his gorgeous brown eyes locked with hers and he bowed politely. As he rose again, she left into the crowd. As much as he'd love to get out of there and maybe play some ball with his brother or take a nice long nap, Chad knew that was out of the question. Another name was called and once again, he was stuck where he was.

"Mademoiselle Ilene Woods, daughter of Sir Woods and Lady Woods."

The echoing voice through a rather small megaphone wasn't coming from a footman as it usually would, but rather a footwoman. the usual footman was out with laryngitis, as the royal family had learned, so they went to the only person they knew to be in charge of his job until further notice, and that was...well, the footwoman. She didn't look much older than Prince Troy or Chad, just around their ages. She had a nice figure and flowing brunette hair. She was in an elegant red dress just as nice as any of the other dresses the women were wearing, only she had a sash around her to signify that she was a member of the castle and worked personally for the king and princes. Through a small pair of glasses she was holding, as it was the job of any footman to read through them - though luckily they didn't have any lenses - her brown eyes skimmed the next name before she announced it. Sure, Gabriella was doing a great job of filling in for the sick footman. And yes, the king had tried to set her and Chad up numerous times. This week wasn't the first mentioning of King Jack wanting his son to settle down with a wife and give him some grand-babies. But after many failed attempts, Jack had made the discovery - quite a shocking discovery to him at least - that Chad was not interested in Gabriella. There was someone else who had his eye on her. There was just one minor issue in the step - Chad had to be set up before anyone else and the king wasn't going to have it any other way. Yes, he was going to be a complete baby about this. He wanted his son Chad to find a bride before anyone else in the castle was allowed to settle down and that was final.

It was from a small balcony in the ballroom that King Jack and Troy were watching over their trapped family member, watching him give the same reaction over and over again to each girl. While King Jack just watched anxiously, hoping that Chad would soon enough find the woman of his dreams, Troy was just leaning against the banister and watching something else. His mind was only have in the mission, as it could be seen from his somewhat dazed look. And it didn't take rocket science to figure out what was causing the daze. Another woman approached the prince and Chad bowed once more before she turned back into the crowd. King Jack sighed heavily before laying back in his chair. How on earth did he raise such a stubborn boy? Chad sure didn't get it from him that was for sure. It had to be his mother. Yes, that was the only place such a stubborn personality could come from. The late queen, not the king. That was all there was to it. No way at all was King Jack a stubborn head.

"He's just not cooperating is he?" the king sighed heavily.

Troy glanced at his father briefly. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. Even he could see how stubborn his father was, no matter how much the king didn't want to admit it. Obviously Troy was the only one who was understanding what his brother was going through right now.

"Mademoiselle Augustina Dubious, daughter of Lord and Lady Dubious." Gabriella's voice echoed as the next woman approached Chad.

The king leaned forward, watching even more anxiously. This was at least girl number thirty...maybe even fifty. Come on Chad, pick a suitable wife already!

Unfortunately it didn't work out that way. Chad politely bowed just as he had been doing all night. As the lady turned and left, Chad casually placed his hand over his mouth to cover up a yawn. Even in his eyes the fact that he was so bored was evident. He looked up to the balcony giving his father a knowing look. He knew this had to be some kind of scheme from the minute he was told about this. While Chad was aware that King Jack had good intentions at heart, it just wasn't for Chad. He wanted to settle down when he was good and ready. And as corny as it sounded, he wanted to marry for love, not for kids. Even he was sure that before King Jack would go to the big castle in the sky he's have grand kids.

"I can't understand it!" Jack exclaimed, not sure how much more of this he could take. He pounded his fist onto the banister. "There must be at least one girl here who could make a suitable mother!"

Troy snapped out of his daydream automatically. His father was so jumping ahead of the game. Wasn't something supposed to come before kids? They learned this when they were like ten. "Dad!" he gasped. He quickly tried to shush him, giving the extra reminder that practically the entire kingdom was in their ballroom and they wouldn't want to stir any problems.

Jack folded his arms and pouted like a little kid. "A suitable wife." he corrected with a mumble.

"Cheer up dad." Troy shrugged. "There's still tons of women Chad hasn't seen yet. He'll probably know his future wife when he sees her."

"And for all we know, a few more ladies and I'll be on my deathbed." the king muttered.

"You're overreacting." Troy shook his head. "Chad's gonna find his dream girl tonight. And then there'll be little Chads and girls running around before you know it."

King Jack raised an eyebrow at his younger son. "Little Chads and girls?"

"Well we don't know the name of his future wife yet." Troy shrugged his shoulders once again. "We don't know what the little girls are gonna be called."

The king hit his head. "Just get me some water. I have a headache."

---

Unbeknown to any of the royal family know that the possible future wife was entering the castle right that minute. Exiting the carriage was none other than Taylor. Donny helped her over to the castle and Taylor nodded a thank you. Turning back to the carriage, she curtsied to her animal friends as another thank you for getting her there and helping her so much. She then turned around once more and looked up at the castle. She took notice of its structure and architecture, admiring it from up close. As beautiful as it was, it was also intimidating. She had seen it from the window of her home so many times that she had never gotten the chance to see it this close before. Just because she was dressed like a princess tonight didn't mean that she could possibly fit in with everyone in there. It just showed how little time Taylor had spent outside her home. But as scared as she was right now, Taylor knew that she couldn't back out now. This was her night and if she didn't let fear rule her life there, she wasn't going to let it rule here.

Taking a deep breath, Taylor stepped inside the castle. She stood in the doorway for a moment, seeing just how huge the castle was from the inside. There was a small aisle leading to a rather large staircase, and on each side of the aisle were royal guards watching carefully. Even without looking at them directly, Taylor could feel their eyes following her every move. She thought it best to just move on and stop them from watching her so closely. Even as she walked to the staircase she still got the sense that she was being watched. What, were they checking her out? Just great. Approaching the staircase, she could hear a faint yet loud voice coming from upstairs. That had to be where the party was. She cautiously made her way up, hoping that she wasn't intruding on anything important. Little did she know that by the time she arrived to her destination, that her life was about to change forever.

---

As the last woman stepped away from Chad and headed back into the crowd, Sharpay and Tiara suddenly came to the realization that they were up next to meet the prince. They hurriedly checked themselves over for perfect hair, clean gowns, nothing in their teeth, etc. Both knew very well that their mother wanted them to be chosen as the prince's wife. And they weren't going to let her down. By the end of tonight one of them could be royalty. Living in the castle. Actual princess. Future queen. Better than the other sister. The favorite of their mother. And so on and so fourth.

"Mademoiselles Sharpay and Tiara Darbus, daughters of Lady Darbus." Gabriella announced.

Tiara's head instantly snapped up. Taking the last possible moment to adjust her dress, she then took a step forward towards the prince only to nearly trip. As she quickly regained her balance, Tiara turned to her older sister, seeing how the sparkling pink heels were standing right on top of her dress. Tiara glared at Sharpay and pulled on her gown, causing Sharpay herself to fall over. Sharpay quickly sat up and gave an evil look towards Tiara. Tiara smirked and stuck her tongue out before walking to Chad. Sharpay scowled and fixed her hair as quickly as possible before walking in the most lady-like manner possible, whereas her sister was rushing towards the prince.

Chad watched as the girls struggled to get to him. He tried his hardest not to roll his eyes. He'd seen girls like this before. He wouldn't go so far as to say they were desperate, but they certainly weren't subtle in their attempts to show how badly either of them wanted to be princesses. Oh sure, they were plenty good looking just like all the other girls. But still Chad had not found what he was looking for. He briefly looked to Gabriella with a pleading look, mouthing 'help me' to her. Gabriella could only look back at him and shrug her shoulders. After all, she was merely the footwoman. What was she supposed to do? They had to give every woman a fair shot at him here. Besides, how would Chad even know who he liked if he didn't at least bow to them? Gabriella may merely be the footwoman or related to the footman, but she could see how everything worked. Like Chad, she didn't let royalty get the better of her. She was one of the most level-headed people the castle had to offer. And sometimes, even when Chad and Troy got big heads, they needed her help. While Chad was looking for a different kind of help right now, he still knew she was right. Holding in a sigh, he reluctantly turned back to these girls...what were their names?...Tiara and Sharpay. He watched as they curtsied to him, giving him such puppy dog looks. He absolutely hated it.

Jack shook his head and even his hands at these girls. He could tell just as easily that these girls weren't right for Chad. And although he wasn't looking, he knew Chad didn't like them either. This was all getting so hopeless. Practically every girl in the kingdom had come up and Chad didn't find a single one to his liking. They lived in the worst dating district!

"I give up. Even I can't expect him to find the perfect girl tonight." Jack confessed.

"Not to say I told you so Dad, but I told you so." Troy told him. "And I know how much you hate hearing this..."

"Don't you say it." Jack warned, pointing at his son.

"I'm gonna say it."

"Don't you even think about it!"

"You are..."

"Troy you shut your mouth right now!"

"An incredibly hopeless romantic!"

The king groaned loudly and hit his head against the banister. He was practically a war hero in the kingdom and here his own son was saying he's a hopeless romantic. He hated hearing that, whether it was true or not. He was just relieved that the whole kingdom hadn't heard that.

"I hate you." he grumbled.

"Love you, too, Dad." Troy chuckled. He leaned up against the chair his father was sitting in. "But if it makes you feel any better, I guess I can be sort of a romantic, too. And knowing my brother he's probably got the perfect picture painted in his head."

"Does he now?" he asked sarcastically.

"Of course. You can see it right now can't you?" Troy replied. "The young prince bows to the lovely ladies. And then suddenly, he stops. He looks up. Look. There she stands. The girl of his dreams. Who she is or whence she came, he knows not. Nor does she care. But his heart tells him to go. Because here is the woman that's destined to be his bride."

King Jack was only caught off guard for a moment. "Have you been reading too much Shakespeare again?"

"No..." Troy lied.

But what the king was lucky enough to quickly realize was, just as Troy had been explaining everything, he could see his son executing just that. From what Jack could see, Troy had given him the perfect narrative of what was going on. He could see Chad walking away from the two ladies in front of him and heading across the ballroom to a stunning young girl. But what the king was seeing and the prince was thinking were totally different.

As the girls curtsied, Chad did as he did all night and politely bowed to them. Then suddenly something caught his eye. There was something in the distance, almost on the other side of the ballroom. He took his eyes off the blonds and slowly looked up. That's when his eyes fell on the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. Her gown highlighted her figure ever so nicely, her hair was nicely styled, and she had the most gorgeous eyes. Chad just had to get a better look at her. Something was telling him to see who it was, if it was someone he knew and why he'd never seen her before. He walked past Tiara and Sharpay, much to their shock, and went across the ballroom right to the girl. Everyone watched wide-eyed as he did that. It wasn't like the Prince to just walk away from something important. The closer he stepped to the mystery girl, the more nervous he felt himself get. Chad had never felt that way around a girl before. If this was the hottest girl in the entire kingdom then he just had to get to know her better. Maybe he'd picked up a few hopeless romantic things from his father and brother, but this could just be love at first sight. He stopped just short of her, taking a moment to make sure his hair was looking good. He then corrected his posture so he was standing up straight and cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Good evening."

Shocked by the sudden voice, Taylor spun around to the guy. And standing right before her eyes was the hottest guy she'd ever seen. Not that she'd seen a lot of guys with the limited time she had outside, but from all the guys she had seen before, this was definitely the most good-looking. Taylor was amazed at how well fit he was and how strong he looked but so kind and gentle as well. He had the nicest smile, the craziest hair, and just...he was just so dreamy. For the first time in ages Taylor felt weak in her knees. What were the odds that such a guy would come talking to her? She had merely been trying to find out where the party was, unaware that it had been right behind her the whole time while she was wandering around. And it was at that same time that Chad had seen her. Little did she know that this was in actuality the Prince and not just some hot guy. Taylor quickly got a hold of herself, remembering that he was high class, or so judging from his attire. Odds were that he was just being polite to her. As he bowed with his greeting, Taylor politely curtsied.

"Hello."

As he stood straight once more, he took in her beauty. When it got to the point that he was just staring, Chad shook his head to snap out of it. "Um...are you alright? You seem kind of lost."

"I'm sorry." Taylor apologized. "I was just looking for the party. I got here a little late."

"Just like a girl. Loving to be fashionably late." he teased.

Taylor giggled. So he had a sense of humor. "I suppose so."

"Well you're not just going to walk around the castle all night are you?" Chad wondered.

Taylor shook her head. "I don't know. I mean...I don't know anyone here."

"Well maybe we should fix that." Chad said with a smile. He held out his hand to her. "Can I have this dance?"

Taylor smiled at him. He seemed like such a nice guy. And with a smile like that, somehow it was just able to melt her heart. "Of course." she answered, taking his hand.

Chad replied with another smile and led her over to the dance floor.

The king watched all that right from the balcony. While he couldn't hear at all what they were seeing, he could still see some kind of glow in his son's eyes. That's a glow he hadn't seen in ages. He even rubbed his eyes in disbelief. After looking through girl after girl tonight, one that didn't even step up to him was the one that caught his eye. That was the girl! That was going to be Chad's future wife! Jack couldn't even describe how delighted he was. Unfortunately, Troy had taken no notice as he had just gone on with his little narrative.

"A perfect fairytale, maybe. But this is real life, Dad." he said. "Sorry to break it to you, Dad, but it sounds like it was all doomed to failure. Maybe now you can set me up with that nice girl we've been talking about...?"

"Failure?" King Jack gasped. "Failure you say?" He practically forced Troy over the banister to get him to see Chad and the girl with his own eyes, even letting his excitement get the better of him. "Take a look at that, you pompous windbag!"

Troy gasped and looked right at the king. "Dad!"

Jack rolled his eyes. "I'll apologize later. Just look, boy!"

Troy sighed and followed his father's gaze. But as hard as it was to believe, he was seeing it with his own eyes. Chad was getting ready to dance with a girl. A girl he really seemed to like. "I don't believe it..."

"Do you know her?" the king inquired.

"No sir." Troy shook his head. "I've never seen her before."

"Well that makes two of us." Jack said.

"What do we do?" Troy asked.

"The only thing that we can do." his father replied. He called over to the orchestra. "The waltz! Quick, play the waltz!"

Seeing the king's signal, the orchestra nodded and began playing their music.

The king then went to the other side of the balcony and called to the lighting crew. "The lights!" he whistled, leaning over the banister once again to get their attention. "The lights!"

"Dad careful, you're gonna fall!" Troy gasped, quickly pulling his father over.

The dance floor cleared as the lights dimmed. Chad and Taylor made their way to the center. Chad didn't seem intimidated by the change at all, as he was used to it. But Taylor seemed a little more caught off guard.

"You ok?" Chad asked as he put a hand on her waist.

"Yeah." she nodded. "But...I don't really dance."

"Me either." Chad said with a chuckle.

Taylor looked at him doubtfully.

"Ok I do dance a little." he admitted. "So I'll teach you. Just follow my lead."

Taylor nodded. "Ok." She placed a hand on his shoulder and held onto his other hand. As the music played, Chad gently spun her around and she followed his every lead. She seemed to struggle a little at first, but with Chad leading her Taylor caught on rather quickly. And somehow, whether it was a slow dance or the waltz, Taylor just felt comfortable dancing with this guy. There was something there that she just couldn't explain. They were dancing so wonderfully together, their eyes locked every second.

The king smiled as he watched his son dance contently. "Well that takes care of that, it looks like." he said with a yawn. "And now it's time for all good kings to hit the hay."

"You do that, Dad. I'm going to go see if I can catch a quick dance with Ga-" Troy started.

The king immediately sat Troy back down before he could even finish. "You will stay right here. You are to keep an eye on your big brother. Make sure that under no circumstances are they disturbed. And when he proposes, notify me at once."

"Propose?" Troy questioned. "But Dad, he's only..."

"I don't care if he's five and dancing! He's going to pop the question and you'll let me know as soon as that happens." Jack insisted. Then he skipped happily towards his room. He was so happy in fact, that he even danced with one of the guards before entering his bedroom.

Troy couldn't help but roll his eyes. "I love my dad, but he can be such a stubborn head." he said to himself.

---

Everyone in the ballroom gathered around to watch the prince dance with the girl. They formed a circle around the pair and just watched them dance. No one had any clues as to who the girl was, but the other girls could only watch in envy wondering why it couldn't be them dancing with Prince Chad. Among the group of girls was especially Sharpay and Tiara, who were desperate to find out who the girl was. After all, the prince had practically shoved them aside like they were nothing just to see her. She had some nerve to steal their man, too. The sisters struggled to look through the crowd and look past the people to see who she was.

"Who is she, Mother?" Sharpay asked Darbus as she tried looking over everyone.

"Do we know her?" Tiara questioned as she looked through people's legs and arms to try to get a better look.

"It looks like the prince does. He's the one dancing with her." Sharpay answered as-a-matter-of-factly.

Tiara got down on her knees and looked through some legs to see the dancing couple. "Well I've certainly never seen her."

"Nor I." Darbus mentioned. "But she's certainly..." Darbus stopped short of her sentence as she watched the two dance by. Sure they were still sort of hidden behind the crowd for Darbus to get a really good look, but Darbus was still getting a strange feeling from that girl. A sense of familiarity perhaps. "Wait a minute...there is something familiar about her." She then began doing as her daughters and followed the couple as they danced; Darbus tried looking above and around the people to get a better look at them, trying to see why she had the feeling that she'd seen that girl before. She quickly saw them dancing outside, towards what looked like a courtyard. Darbus made her way around the crowd and tried to follow them out, only to get stopped by some red curtains closing in front of her. She turned to see the Grand Duke was the culprit. She glared at him, almost giving some kind of warning that she'd better get through. But Troy refused and held his ground, following the king's orders precisely.

Behind the curtains, Chad and Taylor continued their dance. Their eyes were locked as they moved in step with each other, perfectly synced. Taylor had not been expecting this at all when she was granted her wish to go to the ball. She was merely assuming that there would be dancing and talking. Never had she imagined dancing with such an incredible guy. The longer she danced with him, the more she wanted to get to know him. And there was no way this could be love at first sight. She had to get to know him better first. Not like Taylor would make the first move, of course. He'd been the one leading her. And it was working. Chad, on the other hand, was merely drawn in by her physical features. But even he knew there was more to a girl than her looks. If her looks drew him in, then her personality would keep him in. He had to get to know this girl better. For once, any thoughts of his father trying to set him up with someone were pushed out of his head. The only thing Chad was focusing on was him dancing with the most amazing girl.

"I thought you said you didn't dance." he chuckled.

"I don't." Taylor admitted.

"Well you're very light on your feet." Chad complimented.

Taylor smiled. "I guess I must have a really good teacher. You dance a lot?"

"I travel a lot. I've picked it up from around." Chad shrugged his shoulders.

"What else can you do?" she inquired.

"If you toss me a ball I can show you some skills." he said.

"I don't have one on me." she replied.

"I'll have to remember that for next time." Chad said.

"Next time?" she wondered.

"Would you like a next time?" he asked.

Taylor smiled shyly and nodded. "I would."

For a guy to make Taylor so nervous and her heart skip a beat, that was rare. She'd never felt quite a sensation like this before.

"Enough about me. Tell me about you." Chad said.

How was she supposed to tell him that she was a maid in her own home to her step family? That would make a horrible impression. And she certainly wasn't going to lie either. It was pure common sense; if she lied from the start then there would be no trust, and any relationship with no trust was doomed to failure. Plus, she's had to clean up enough of Sharpay's and Tiara's magazines to memorize such dating tips by heart.

"There's not much to tell." she shook her head.

"Oh, so you want to turn this into a guessing game." Chad teased playfully. "Alright. I like games."

Taylor giggled.

Chad smiled. "So are you a girlie girl? A funny girl? Maybe a smart girl?"

"Working girl, mainly. And maybe smart." she answered.

"And modest." Chad replied with a smile. "You work out a lot, too?"

"No." Taylor shook her head. "And I'm guessing you'd like to be tougher than a girl."

"It never hurts." Chad chuckled. "But you can kick my butt any day."

"I'll keep that in mind." she grinned.

"You party like this a lot?" he wondered.

"You could say I'm married to my work." she answered half truthfully. In all honesty, with all the chores and work her family gave her, Taylor might as well be married to her work.

"And should I be jealous of this work?" Chad asked innocently as he dipped her.

"Maybe." Taylor giggled. "I'll give it a warning you'll be after it."

He then spun her under his arm. As her back was leaned up against his chest, Chad's arm was around her waist. "If you were my girl, you'd never have to work again." he whispered into her ear.

Taylor blushed at his response. He was so flirting. But without him not looking directly at her face, at least he didn't see her nearly freak out. Not freak out, more like catch her off guard. But if Chad wanted to play this game, Taylor could run with the big boys.

"Dancing requires a lot of work. Aren't we working right now?"

Chad spun her back around to face him and they stopped dancing. "Maybe we should stop, then."

"We just did." she giggled.

Let the flirting continue. Chad was just grateful that they weren't being watched. "Is it hot out here or is it just you?"

"So the smooth moves come out now." Taylor observed. "What's next? Rearranging the alphabet to put u and i together?"

"You're good." he said resting his forehead against hers.

"You're not too bad yourself." Taylor replied.

"Wanna take a walk around the courtyard?" he wondered.

Taylor smiled and nodded, not even thinking to see how much time she'd have left for the evening. "I'd be honored."

He then took her hand in his and began showing her around the couryard.

_So this is love_

_So this is love_

_So this is what makes life divine_

They walked while occasionally talking, though otherwise in complete silence. But it was more of a comfortable silence, not an awkward one. Whether the guy was saying anything or not, Taylor felt herself getting closer with was an overall nice guy with a great sense of humor, was very easy to talk to, and let's not forget to mention how good looking he 'd never met anyone like him before. As hard a time as Taylor had believing this, maybe this was all it took for her to fall for someone. She was with him dancing and just talking for ten, maybe fifteen minutes tops. That was all it took for her to fall in love.

_I'm all aglow,_

_And now I know_

_(And now I know)_

_The key to all heaven is mine_

Even Chad was amazed at how fast he could fall for someone. He'd seen thousands of hot girls, but this one was different. She had something special. Suddenly everything his father told him and wanted for him, Chad could imagine. And he couldn't picture it with anyone but her. He felt on top of the world with her. Even as they talked he could tell how different they were. That she worked for a living while he had nearly everything handed to him on a silver platter. That she was serious and he was a goof. That she was smart and he...well, wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. But somehow he felt balanced with her. It felt like a void had finally been filled for him. And now finding his perfect girl he never wanted to let her go.

_My heart has wings_

_And I can fly_

_I'll touch every star in the sky_

Passing by a small fountain, Taylor ran her hand through it and watched as the ripples echoed through it. Chad looked at her and smiled. Deciding to have even more fun, he playfully splashed a little bit at her. Taylor turned to him and giggled before flicking some water in his direction as well. Chad chuckled and took both of her hands, leading her away from the fountain and beginning to dance with her once more. For their last dance of the night, neither of them spoke. They just locked eyes and danced through the courtyard. Everything was feeling so perfect, like everything had finally fallen into place. It was one night that neither of them wanted to end.

_So this is the miracle that I've been dreaming of_

As their dance slowly came to an end, the couple found themselves at a bridge over a small pond. They had danced further into the courtayrd than they realized. Taking her hand once more, Chad led Taylor over the bridge. They stopped in the middle of it and looked down at the water, seeing a few fish swim by underneath. They took that moment to just relax and enjoy a relaxed moment with each other. But as their reflections in the water were revealed, Taylor could see that it wasn't the fish Chad was watching. It was her. He had been watching her that whole time. Taking her gaze off the aquatic creatures, Taylor turned to Chad and their eyes locked once more. Chad slowly leaned in, almost as if he were requesting her permission. Taylor followed and leaned in a little herself. She almost wondered if it was really her he'd been focusing on this whole night, or if he'd been watching someone else. But there was a certain look in his eyes that revealed they were all for Taylor. They had the same feelings that Taylor had in her eyes. For the first time she didn't feel vulnerable or like someone was taking advantage of her. This was real. And this was her night. And with that, their lips met and they shared their first kiss.

_So this is love_

* * *

Ok that took at least three days to do. xD I started it last week, then worked on a little yesterday, and finished the rest today after being done with most of my homework. This is the chapter we've all been waiting for, wasn't it? I had to make it good and hopefully that mission was accomplished. Before we get started on the characters, did anyone catch a certain voice actress' name from the actual movie in here? 0=) We got to officially meet the footwoman, so now we know it's Gabriella. I'll be honest, I didn't know who else to cast her as, and I figured that would give Troy something to do besides listening to his father and trying to help his brother find the girl. Besides, it's a good twist where you think one of the characters is going to be someone and it turns out to be someone else. Anyway enough about Gabriella. I'm going to say what we're probably all thinking... How about that Prince Chad huh? Meow! Well...technically he is a wildcat so the meow thing kinda works. XD I gave Chad a little back story and we get to see what kind of guy he is. It was hard to give him part of Prince Charming too, since we don't get enough screen time of the prince to see what his character is like. But the Chad part of him definitely shines through. He was so much fun to write here because some of what he said was pretty believable, you'd think he'd actually say something like that in the movies. And this chapter was especially important to the story. In the movie we don't get much Cinderella/Charming action and all we think is a love at first sight thing. I wanted to try and develop the relationship a little more so we know that it was love at first sight but that wasn't all there was to it, and they didn't just focus on each others' looks. And besides, these are the main characters of the story so they need more time with each other than they got in the Cinderella movie. Really, did anyone else notice how little interaction there was in the movie? Great music, lots of funny stuff...not so much happening with these two. That's all besides the point since i think that got across pretty well. I decided to leave the chapter off on a fairly mushy note since we all know what's going to happen next and we might as well milk it for all it's worth. So next chapter, we'll see what happens when the clock strikes midnight! Good-night everyone. C:


	12. Chapter 11

Well I'm so happy everyone enjoyed the last chapter. It was just so much fun! ^^ But unfortunately all good things must come to an end. I really wish i could drag out the prince and Taylor scene some more, but we'll just have to see what happens here. So hope you all enjoy this next chapter, cause here comes the climax!  
Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

The night was quickly coming to an end and before Taylor knew it, she and Chad were at the porch behind the castle kissing on the steps. She had completely forgotten about the warning her fairy godmother gave her or what time it was. She just didn't want the night to end. It was the best thing to happen to her in years and it was going to be so heartbreaking when the night would be over. Little did Taylor know her time was more limited than she realized. It was just past five to midnight, barely giving Taylor any time to get out of there. So when she and Chad broke away from their mini make-out session, Taylor found herself in a rude awakening.

"This has been so great." Chad told her with a smile. "I thought tonight was gonna be so boring."

"Did it turn out better than you planned?" Taylor inquired.

"Way better." he smiled. "I got to meet you."

"Ok, now you're just kissing up." Taylor giggled.

"Yeah, well I'm about to do it again." Chad grinned. He leaned in for another kiss.

Taylor was almost ready to return it, and she gladly would have. But there was that minor issue of the time constraint. As she leaned in, from the corner of her eye she caught a quick glimpse of the clock tower - and the time.

"Oh my God!" she gasped, pulling away a little too fast for comfort.

Chad nearly fell over, shocked at her sudden rejection. "What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"It's almost midnight." Taylor said as she got up and looked at him.

Chad looked at the clock nearby. "So it is." he said simply, having no idea of the time's significance.

"I've got to go." Taylor turned around about to leave.

"Wait, what?" Chad gasped as he got up to follow her. He managed to lightly grab her arm before she got too far.

"I have to go." she repeated.

"But why?" Chad asked. After meeting this girl he was going to do everything it took to get her to stay. He wasn't about to lose her so easily.

"Please, you don't understand." she shook her head. She tried getting away again.

"But so soon?" Chad replied, barely managing to keep her in one place. "It's still early. And even if it were late you could stay here for the night if you wanted to."

Boy was he stubborn. It wasn't like Taylor wanted to go, and she didn't want him to think that at all. But she knew that if she stayed around those last few minutes then the spell would wear off and he'd see her for who she really was. Not to mention if her step family caught her she'd be deader than dead. She just couldn't believe she got distracted so easily and forgot the time. Taylor was not this kind of irresponsible person. All she had to do was think of some way to get out of here...and fast!

"Well...see I forgot to.... The prince!" she exclaimed.

"What?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I haven't met the prince." Taylor fibbed.

"The prince?" Chad repeated. But he thought that he was.... Oh snap, he didn't! But he did! He didn't even tell her who he was. What was he thinking? He didn't even get her name! Boy, was Chad no prince. He was the King of Loser-dom! He had to tell her now, while there was still a chance. "But didn't you know that...?"

He didn't get the last words in thanks to the clock tower. It began dinging, saying that ther was one minute left until midnight.

Taylor took that chance to get out of Chad's grasp. "Good-bye." she said quickly before rushing back into the castle to get out.

"Wait...wait, you can't go!" Chad gasped chasing after her. "Please come back!"

As Taylor entered the castle, he quickly turned to him once more. "Good-bye." she repeated before running again.

No, she was getting away! This couldn't be happening! After all this urging from his father and all this hunting, Chad had finally found his dream girl. And she was running away from him! He just couldn't let her get away. Why was she running? Was it something he said? Something he'd done? Chad had to find out and fix it before it was too late.

"But I don't even know your name! How am I gonna find you?" he called desperately. "Wait! Please wait!" He started running after her again, hoping that he could still catch up with her somehow.

---

Meanwhile, unaware of the events that had been occurring in the courtyard, Troy had just remained in front of the curtains making sure that no one would get through. And he'd been doing a good job of it too, especially after everyone left the ballroom. Good thing the king prepared a huge feast in the dining room, or else the ballroom would still be a madhouse and people would still be begging to see who the prince was with. Of course, there was the matter of a few minor distractions. And one of those distractions just so happened to be Gabriella. It just started with her bringing Troy some food from the dining room and then they started talking and...well, you get the picture. Let's just say it was a good thing no one was around to even try to get through the curtains.

"So...how is your uncle doing?" Troy wondered, barely getting over his nervousness of talking to this girl.

"He should be better in a week." Gabriella replied. "And he apologizes profusely for not being able to do his job."

"Oh, it's fine. Really." Troy said quickly. "He's got you to do it. i mean, not that you have a loud voice. I mean you don't, you have a great voice. But not loud. See what I mean to say it..."

Gabriella raised an eyebrow from curiosity, wondering just what it was that Troy was trying to say. She liked him, she did. But Troy just always got his words jumbled up in front of her and she had no idea what it meant. Was he nervous about something, or was he stressed, or did it have to do with her? She just couldn't put her finger on it.

Troy froze for a moment before going all gaga and nearly falling off his chair. "You're pretty tonight."

That had Gabriella blushing and giggling. Alright, he'd won her over. "Why, thank you."

Troy smiled in a goofy manner. Yes, he was winning her over! "So then maybe one night we can go out on a..." he started in his smoothest voice possible. Sadly, he didn't get to complete his question. The next thing he knew the curtains were flying in his face. Troy gasped and fell off his chair. Gabriella covered her mouth before rushing over to help him up.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Troy nodded as he let Gabriella help him up.

Gabriella nodded and then turned to see what caused the curtains to hit Troy. That's when she saw Taylor standing there looking desperately for a way to get out. While Gabriella didn't know this girl by name, she did have an idea of who she was.

"Hey, you were dancing before. You were with..." she realized.

Taylor turned around. "Can you please tell me how to get out of here?" she interrupted. Not that she meant to, but she was kind of freaking out. It was a few seconds to midnight and she had no time to get out of here.

"Yeah...you run around the corner and straight down the stairs to the left. You'll be outside in no time." Gabriella answered, somewhat confused.

"Thank you. Good-bye!" Taylor responded before running again.

Troy smiled and waved to her as she left. "Nice girl. Chad seemed really happy with her..." he started to Gabriella. He stopped in mid-sentence and his jaw dropped. "Wait a second...did she just say good-bye?"

"Yeah. Why?" Gabriella asked, concerned.

"Dad's gonna kill me." Troy breathed. "I promised him I wouldn't let her leave and let him know when Chad pops the question." He let go of her hand and ran after Taylor.

"Wait...what are you talking about?" she gasped.

Troy stopped briefly and faced her again. "When Chad comes rushing out of there just tell him I'm trying to catch her. Tell him not to worry...I hope!" he answered before dashing after Taylor again. "Miss, come back!"

Gabriella almost started running after him but sighed heavily and stopped, knowing that Chad would be worrying about where this girl was going. And it was her duty to help him so she thought it best to let him know what Troy was doing. Surely enough, moments later Chad came bursting through the curtains.

"Wait!" he called, almost falling down. Then he looked around, seeing no sign of Taylor. He faced Gabriella worriedly. "Where did she go?"

"Troy's chasing after her. He's trying to catch her for you." Gabriella answered, doing her best to calm him down.

"I've gotta catch her...I can't let her get away!" Chad said. He took a few steps forward only to stop again when he heard some screaming girls.

"It's the Prince!"

"The Prince has come back!"

"Let's get him!"

Gabriella bit her tongue as she saw the crazy girls rush to Chad. "Um...sir...?"

"Gotta go." Chad mumbled before running in the opposite direction he meant to go, doing the best he could to get away from his fans. Boy, they picked the worst time to start an angry mob over him!

---

Taylor was almost at the front of the castle. Her carriage and animal friends disguised as humans and other animals were just in sight. She could hear the clock dinging again and she knew very well that it was midnight. There was no time to lose, she had to hurry and move faster. Down the stairs she could see Donny and Jimmie signalling her to come over and run faster. Even they knew that they were out of time. Taylor had no idea how much longer the spell could last after the clock stroke midnight. She could already feel her hair tangling up and probably falling out of the incredible do her fairy godmother made for her. Taylor had them reached the foot of the steps only to feel half shorter. She spun around and saw that one of her glass slippers had fallen off; it was still on one of the steps. She was about to run and get it until she saw Troy approaching, calling for her. At the same time, she could hear the sounds of her animal friends. She hesitated for a moment, then sighed heavily and ran to the carriage. Taylor didn't want to leave one of her glass slippers behind, but she knew she had no choice.

"Miss! Miss, come back!" Troy called. He could see a slight sparkle coming from the slipper on the stairs. And then he saw her running towards a carriage. That had to be her shoe, and that had to be her! but why wasn't she answering? Maybe he should try something else. "Mademoiselle!" He stopped in front of the shoe to pick it up and looked up to see Taylor slowly disappearing from his sight. "Señorita!" He started again, just as the carriage was leaving with her. "Señorina! Just a minute!" he called again. Alright, he's tried calling for her in English, French, Spanish, and Italian...would it just be better to use Gibberish?

The carriage was rapidly approaching the gate. Troy knew now that it wouldn't even make sense to call saying she forgot her shoe. The best thing to do would be to make sure she didn't escape, catch her, and not get in trouble with his dad...oh yes, and make Chad happy. Troy called out to the guards in the castle, who were luckily on watch 24/7. If anyone could make sure Taylor wouldn't escape, it was them.

"Guys, stop that girl! Close those gates!" Troy yelled.

The guards at the gates worked quick to close the gates. But much to their shock and suspense, the carriage made it out just in the nick of time. And they were still running faster than Troy had seen any carriage rush off the castle grounds.

"Alright, go with plan b! Follow that girl! We can't let her get away!" he gasped. "Bring her back here!"

The gates opened up again and speeding out after Taylor and her carriage were a bunch of men in black on their black horses. They were catching up pretty fast and the spell was beginning to wear off at an even more noticeable rate. Taylor's mouth dropped and she watched in fright as they chased her like she had committed some horrible crime. But they still couldn't catch her. If they could just get far enough away from those men then they'd be safe. By now the carriage was beginning to hollow out and it was about two minutes after midnight. Fortunate enough to make it half way back home by the fifth or so ding of the clock, the guards were out of sight to see the carriage turning back into a pumpkin. As the next ding rang and faded out, the hoses were poofed right back into little mice. Not even realizing it, the mice kept running. Zeke was the first to see this and tugged on his friend's tails. The three stopped running and looked behind them. Everything had looked back to normal now. Taylor was in her torn up dress, Donny was a pooch again, and Jimmie was back as a horse. The carriage had also transformed back into a pumpkin and Taylor was sitting on it with Donny laying behind her and Jimmie sitting in front. Taylor rubbed her head, amazed that the spell was able to last even a few minutes longer than planned. Then she heard footsteps in the distance. She gasped and realized it was the guards.

"Get out of the way!" she warned her friends before all of them dashed into the bushes nearby, leaving the pumpkin in the middle of the road. From behind the safety of the leaves, Taylor watched as the horses ran over the pumpkin, crushing it and all of the fairy dust that was left with it. As the last horse stomped on it while following the rest of the guards, the pumpkin began to rot and with that, the magic of the evening was gone.

Once it was safe to move freely again, the mice got on a few rocks and looked up at Taylor. Donny lay down beside Taylor and rested his head on her lap and Jimmie stood beside her. The animals looked at Taylor concerned, wondering what happened to make her run so late and if everything was ok. But Taylor was still in a bit of a daze, thinking about the night. Snapping out of it, she saw her friends watching her. She giggled lightly and shook her head apologetically.

"I'm sorry. I guess I just forgot about everything." she admitted. "I didn't even realize the time. But...but it was just so wonderful. Jut like a dream come true."

Their expressions softened, no longer feeling worried or any sort of mad at Taylor. The goal of the night was to make her happy and that mission was well accomplished.

Taylor sighed contently as she thought about Chad. "And that guy...he was so hot."

Jason couldn't help but chuckle a little when she said that. It wasn't like Taylor to describe someone that way.

"It does sound a little silly. But he was." Taylor giggled a bit herself. "Oh, and when we danced...I doubt even the prince himself could feel so...so..." What was the word she was looking for? Happy? Alive? Carefree? In love?

Jason cuddled up to Zeke feeling so warmed by Taylor's comments. It just put him in his happy place. Zeke was feeling just as content with her happiness...until he felt Jason against him. Zeke scrunched his nose and quickly shoved Jason off of him. Zeke then straightened his little jacket and shook a finger at Jason, who just looked confused. What, no one else liked cuddling when they were happy?

"Oh well," Taylor sighed standing up. "I suppose it doesn't matter. I mean, it is over now and..."

"Tay-Tay!" Zeke gasped. He jumped up and down, pointing at her foot. "Tay-Tay looky!"

"Yeah Tay-Tay! Looky looky!" Jason exclaimed.

Taylor watched as the pair of mice did that, wondering what had gotten into them.

"Tay-Tay, a slipper!" Zeke insisted.

"Uh-huh! Slippy!" Jason pointed.

Taylor looked down, following their gazes and saw that the slipper she hadn't lose was still on her foot. It was still sparkling with its glassy glow and having that same feel of fairy dust and magic to it. Taylor had thought that everything disappeared when time ran out. But the slipper was still left. She wondered why. Was it because she had lost the other one, or because it was a gift from her fairy godmother? She knelt down and took the slipper off her foot. Taylor held it carefully in her arms, knowing not to break it. It was the last reminder left of her dream night. It had to be handled with the utmost care. Even as more of a reason - it was the last reminder of her dancing with that man.

"I don't believe it." she breathed in total awe. Just looking at the slipper, she knew it was something her fairy godmother left her. Even though the night was over and Taylor would be going back to the old ways before she knew it, she knew now that there would be some of that magic everyday and that maybe, just maybe, it would give her hope of seeing him again. And none of that would have even been possible if she hadn't believed and her fairy godmother hadn't come. She owed so much to that woman and Taylor couldn't be more grateful. This was something she would cherish until the day she died. Taylor held the slipper close to her and looked up, knowing fairy godmother Kelsi had to be watching from somewhere.

"Thank you. Thank you so much. For everything."

* * *

And that's another chapter complete! I wanted to try and get it up while there was still a chance, cause I know it's only a matter of time before getting slaughtered with homework again (i still have a lot of it to do this weekend, actually). I did kind of rush this chapter a little, but that's also because the scene was happening so quickly. It's like one minute she's kissing prince charming, then she's running away, then jumping in the carriage, then getting chased by castle guards. But we all liked the previous chapter so much better didn't we? XD Let's just rewind and watch that again instead of seeing the night come crashing down. Anyway, the next chapter won't be from the movie. It's going to be a bonus chapter I was planning on putting in. More on that in the next a/n. Anyway, there's about six or seven chapters left, and I doubt i'll be able to get it finished before the semester is over (it's about 4 or 5 weeks). But when this story is over, i'll be asking you guys what you'd like to read next. And if given the chance, I'm also trying to figure out how to do a one-shot based off of when Chad asked Taylor to prom in HSM3. So everyone, enjoy writing and reading other stories, enjoy the weekend...try to enjoy homework/work if you have any (XDD) and stay tuned for the next chapter! C=


	13. Chapter 12

Alright so as I start this chapter i'm at Anime Club but we're all doing completely different things. And I don't think i'll have any other time this weekend to update, so I thought i should keep my promise and update a week later like i said i would. This chapter is going to be a special bonus chapter which will help us learn more about Chad. Cause really in Cinderella the prince gets almost nothing, so we need to see more of Chad here. Now before we get started I'd just like to say thanks to you guys who are reviewing: _chaylorxtraylorlover, LadiiSmoothCriminalz, chaylorfan4eve1995, ambinlovewlove, rockyshadow, Actingprincess, MermaidRam85, WhyDoesItHaveToRainonMyParade, and HeartsWereNeverMeantToRace._  
Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

"What am I gonna do?" Prince Chad moaned as he paced around his rather large room in the castle. Troy and the guards had been gone for what felt like hours and they'd sent no word if they caught up with the mystery girl or not. Chad had never felt more in suspense in his entire life. Here he was waiting nervously for his dream girl to return and no one even had the courtesy to bring her to him. He had no idea where she could have gone; she'd been out of his sight long before she even left. Chad hadn't stood a chance, especially after nearly escaping those mob of girlie fans with his life. It was a miracle he was even still in one piece. Some of the things they tried to get from him...he shuddered just thinking about it.

Gabriella was sitting down on Chad's bed, unable to do much but watch him circle the room nervously. "Don't worry Chad. I'm sure Troy will come back with her soon." she said loyally.

"You don't know that." he sighed. "For all we know she's long gone."

"You don't know that either." Gabriella pointed out. "We live in a small kingdom so it's not like she could have gotten very far."

"There's plenty of places to hide." Chad shook his head. He sat down on a nearby chair and put his head in his hands. "What if she's not coming back because she doesn't like me? And this entire night was a lie?"

"Chad." Gabriella sighed, not allowing her friend, prince or no prince, to put himself down like that.

"I finally found her, Gabs. I found the one girl that I actually wanna marry and can make my dad shut up about saying how important it is to get hitched and give him grandkids. And now she's gone." he confided in her.

Gabriella shook her head. She stood up and walked over to Chad, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't let yourself get down because of one little setback. We'll find her and we'll bring her back. I saw you two dance through the crowd. And she looked like she was having the time of her life with you. Don't go thinking she wanted to leave."

"But she was in such a rush to get out. She lied about wanting to meet the Prince." Chad replied.

Gabriella folded her arms and stared at him. "You never told her the prince was you." she guessed.

He slowly picked his head up to look at her. "What gave you that idea?" he asked a little too quickly.

Gabriella couldn't help but roll her eyes and shake her head. Yeah, Chad was worried about his missing girl and she had no clue who her mystery man was. Does anyone think anymore?

Troy slowly poked his head into Chad's room, attempting to get Gabriella's attention. Gabriella looked and saw Troy. He looked like even more of a nervous wreck than Chad, if it were possible. Not to mention scared like a little puppy. That could only mean one thing - it did not go over well. The best way to get through this was to do it as quick and painlessly as possible. Gabriella turned back to Chad.

"Troy's here."

Chad looked over to the door. He noticed that Troy was giving a toothy yet very weak smile and waving his hand slowly. Chad sighed and stayed seated, knowing already he wasn't going to like it. "Alright dude, what is it?"

Troy gulped and slowly stepped into the room. How was he supposed to tell his one and only brother that his girl had disappeared into thin air?

Sensing the tension, Gabriella cleared her throat. "I'll just leave you guys to talk."

Troy's mouth dropped as he saw Gabriella approaching the door. "What? I need help here." he whispered to her.

She shook her head. "This is between you and Chad. I don't want to get in the middle."

"What am I gonna tell him? I need your help." Troy pleaded.

"Tell him the truth." she answered. "Don't worry, you'll both be fine." Leaving Troy with that, she departed the room, closing the doors behind her.

Troy groaned and slowly turned towards Chad. As much as he liked Gabriella, he hated it when she was right - and when she left him to do something himself.

Chad raised an eyebrow, expecting an answer from Troy. "So? You gonna tell me you found her?"

Troy slumped his shoulders. "I don't know how to tell you, man."

"Just tell me." he replied. "I need to know."

"Yeah but do you really wanna know like this?"

"I gotta find out sooner or later don't I?"

"Yeah but.... But don't you want some hot tea or something? You're probably really stressed."

"I don't want tea, Troy."

"But you love tea. Especially the ones with those tiny lemons we cut into squares..."

"Lemons, shlemons."

"What about some nice...?"

"Troy!"

Troy nearly jumped back as Chad raised his voice. The poor guy was even more of a wreck than Troy thought. And he thought Chad would be as much of a wreck as Troy was. Troy was pretty much a wreck, having waited for his men all night to come back empty-handed. Alright, his father's men but really, they all followed the same family. Troy hadn't even gotten any sleep knowing his father wasn't going to be pleased with this. Granted, Troy was the younger brother so was allowed to mess things up once in a while and put the blame on Chad, but they weren't little kids anymore. Troy couldn't be some goofy younger brother, and not just because Chad was normally the goofy older brother. Troy had a big job to do so he had to be responsible. He felt like he'd not only let his father down, but his only brother down. And now he had to come clean about it. Letting out a sigh, Troy finally let the secret out.

"She's gone, man."

"Gone?" Chad repeated, blinking.

Troy nodded. "I'm sorry. The guards chased her miles away from the castle. But there was a point where she just vanished from sight."

"So you have no idea where she is?" he replied, hoping there was some way to find his mystery girl.

His brother couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Dude, you're supposed to be older and more responsible here. Didn't you learn anything about her tonight?"

"Well yeah...I mean, I learned plenty..." Chad tried his best to keep his composure while folding his arms, but that earned him a more than doubtful look from Troy. Chad then dropped his arms and sighed heavily. "I know a little about her. She has two sisters and works really hard. She knows how to dance and she likes to read..."

"So you know just little things about her. But not something important like, oh I don't know...her name?" Troy questioned.

Chad shrugged innocently. "I got lost in her big brown eyes?"

Troy laughed. "I'm sorry bro, but do you really expect me to believe that?"

"You use that excuse to me about Gabs all the time." Chad smirked.

Troy's face fell. "That never leaves this room."

Chad chuckled. Even though he was a total wreck inside, he was just glad Troy could do something to lighten up the mood. He did feel a little bit better. He may have lost his dream girl, but at least he still had family. That was really all that mattered. Chad knew better than anyone that he could count on his family for anything in the world. But still, it would be nice to have that girl. That curvy, brilliant, smoking hot girl with him.

Troy could tell that even through Chad's laughter he still had her on his mind. "You can't stop thinking about her can you?"

"I guess not." Chad shook his head. He just kept playing the night over and over again in his head. Wondering why she had to leave him so early. And why he wasn't smart enough to ask her name.

Troy pay his brother on the back. "Don't worry man. We're gonna mind her."

Chad nodded. He knew they would, eventually. He just hoped that it could be done before someone else could put the moves on her. He looked to Troy a bit worriedly. Even though he knew most of the time Troy had an idea of what Chad was thinking, sometimes they didn't always see eye to eye with how to handle something. And right now, Chad needed his brother's help more than anything in the world. That was not an exaggeration.

"Will you find her for me?" he asked.

Troy blinked and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Chad sighed, "What if she doesn't like me? She'll find out I'm a prince and think I was just using her or I want someone else or something. How am I supposed to walk right up to her face and tell her everything?"

"No way she'll think that." he shook his head.

"What if we don't ever find her?" Chad asked, starting to involuntarily lose hope. One little piece of doubt in his mind was making him start to question everything. Luckily, Troy knew his bro was overreacting.

"Dude, no need to worry. We have the one clue to finding your dream girl." he said.

Chad raised an eyebrow. "A picture?"

"Not _that_ one clue." he shook his head. He pulled out the glass slipper that Chad's mystery woman had left behind. "She left this on the steps. She didn't even pick it up, she just left."

"She had that bad of a time with me?" Chad asked.

"Of course not. You two were totally head over heels." Troy insisted. "All I'm saying, is that she really had to have been in a rush to get somewhere or else she wouldn't have left a trace behind."

Chad took the shoe carefully in his hands and looked it over. He held it with great delicacy, knowing if it slipped even once, he would lose his chance to find his girl again.

"So this is all that's left of her?"

"In a sense." Troy answered. He sighed heavily. "Now I'll just have to figure out how to break the news to Dad."

"He'll tell you exactly what to do, won't he?" Chad guessed.

"That's Dad." Troy shrugged his shoulders. "He has some kind of answer for everything."

"So you'll tell him everything?" he wondered.

"I guess I have to. I'll be dead for it in the morning though." Troy responded.

"Thanks for handling this, man." Chad said.

Troy smiled lightly and pat Chad's shoulder. "We'll find her, bro. Don't you worry about a thing."

Chad nodded. "I owe you one. Especially if we find her."

"We will." Troy promised. He took a deep breath. "I'd better go tell him."

"Good luck." Chad said. "If this works out in the end, we'll have a game of ball."

"If I survive long enough to play." Troy said himself before exiting the room.

* * *

And that's another chapter complete! I wanted to try and get it up while there was still a chance, cause I know it's only a matter of time before getting slaughtered with homework again (i still have a lot of it to do this weekend, actually). I did kind of rush this chapter a little, but that's also because the scene was happening so quickly. It's like one minute she's kissing prince charming, then she's running away, then jumping in the carriage, then getting chased by castle guards. But we all liked the previous chapter so much better didn't we? XD Let's just rewind and watch that again instead of seeing the night come crashing down. Anyway, the next chapter won't be from the movie. It's going to be a bonus chapter I was planning on putting in. More on that in the next a/n. Anyway, there's about six or seven chapters left, and I doubt i'll be able to get it finished before the semester is over (it's about 4 or 5 weeks). But when this story is over, i'll be asking you guys what you'd like to read next. And if given the chance, I'm also trying to figure out how to do a one-shot based off of when Chad asked Taylor to prom in HSM3. So everyone, enjoy writing and reading other stories, enjoy the weekend...try to enjoy homework/work if you have any (XDD) and stay tuned for the next chapter! C=


	14. Chapter 13

Alright, I'll probably be saying this at the end of this chapter but, I'm sorry for taking a little longer to update. I had planned to update last week since it was my first week of summer. But this weekend I had my cousin's bar mitzfah so I had to make sure I had outfits for that and get ready for it and yeah that's pretty much it. So we're getting back into the story of Cinderella and we get to see how it goes over with Troy and his father. But this also means there may not be much more to the story. So let's see where this takes us today shall we? As usual, enjoy everyone!  
Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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The next time the clock struck it was into the early hours of the morning. It was still dark outside and most people remained sound asleep. But since his talk with Chad, Troy hadn't gotten much sleep at all. As a matter of fact, he was lucky to even get in five minutes of sleep. He'd been planning exactly what to say to his father and break the news to him. King Jack's eagerness of Chad marrying and having kids excited him so much, Troy knew his father's heart would get broken when he said the mystery girl ran away. But of course, King Jack was a war hero; he would take his broken heart out on anger. Maybe a little bit of violence. On the bright side, due to the fact that he had gotten on a little in years, Jack's aim was very much off. Troy couldn't remember the last time his father had actually hit someone with a sword. And that one time the sword just slashed through the guy's clothes causing him to run through the castle in his underwear. Very dark day that was. Troy still got the shudders thinking about it. Who even wore Hello Mousey underwear? Or was it Hello Kitty? Hello Puppy? Oh well, it was something like that; Troy didn't even remember anymore.

As the clock dang once more, Troy decided to go over a final time what to say to his father. He stood in front of his father's quarters. The doors were closed and Troy opted to speak quietly as to not wake King looked like he was ready for the real deal, standing defiantly as he rehearsed his speech.

"Your majesty, I see no point in beating around the bush. I regret to inform you, dear father, that the young lady has disappeared. The only thing she left behind is this glass slipper." Troy paused for a moment to pull out the shining slpper from the safety zone of his pocket. Troy then opened his mouth to speak more, but then realized that it was the end of his speech. Yes, for quite a while he worked on coming up with exactly what to say and all he got was a mere three sentences. Some super special speech. But it got the point across. Sure it sounded a bit fancy for his taste, but he was sure his father would get the message "Alright, I'll do it." he decided to himself. Troy turned to face the door and reached for the handle. His hand was so close to grabbing it, but he stopped and his hand shook. He felt a beat of sweat drip down the side of his head and heard the faint sound of his teeth clacking. Troy sighed and slumped into a chair in the hall.

"No I can't. I just can't tell my dad that. It's gonna kill him." Then he shook his head and looked to the door once more. "But what choice do I have?" He stood up and peaked through the key hole to see if he could get a good look at his father in the bedroom. Inside King Jack was sleeping soundly and snoring quite loudly as usual. He had quite a large room, the biggest thing in there being his bigger than king sized bed. But boy, was that one cazy king. He was just sleeping the night away. King Jack was cuddled up to his pillow chuckling in his sleep. It was easy to tell he was having such a nice dream. While not about what some people may think it was, it was actually about his future grandkids. Dream Jack was chuckling, giving the prince and princess a little piggy back ride. He hopped around and let them enjoy themselves, only to have the young prince take the king's staff from out of nowhere and bok him on the head. As that just happened in the dream, Jack awoke to hear a knocking at his door. Coming out from his sleep, the king then realized he had moved to the edge of his bed. Hearing another knock, Jack then fell off the bed and onto the floor. Why did someone always have to interrupt his dream, especially when it was so close to becoming reality? He'd have someone's head cut off, he just knew it. Or maybe just rip their clothes off again. Whichever was easier.

Sitting up on th floor, Jack turned to the door irritated. "Who is it? Come in." he insisted.

The door opened merely a crack, and King Jack could not get a good look of who it was.

"Come in already, man!" he bellowed.

Hearing the sudden yelling, Troy gasped slightly and jumped right into the room. He took a deep breath and quickly composed himself. "Um, Dad...there's something important I have to..."

The next thing Troy knew, King Jack was on top of him all happy and chuckling. Jack led his son into the bedroom shaking his hand with a big smile on his face. "So he's proposed already!" he exclaimed. "This is wonderful, son!"

"Actually, sir..." Troy started. He gasped when King Jack came behind, causing Troy to fall into the seat which the king procided for him.

"Where does she live?" the king asked eagerly.

"I didn't get a chance to..." he tried again.

"Oh well, that's no big deal. We've got more important things to talk about." king Jack said as Troy quickly hid the glass slipper behind his back. "We got so much to plan. Wedding arrangements, invitations, a parade, national holiday..."

"But sir..." he replied.

"Here, have a cigar!" King Jack cheered as he took one for himself. "No wait, take a bunch of cigars!" he exclaimed, stuffing as many as possible into Troy's jacket.

"But I'm not old enough to..." Troy said.

"Oh sure you are, I'll make a loaw out of it! Here, take the whole pack of cigars!" the king insisted, dropping the whole box onto Troy's lap.

The longer this went on, the more nervous Troy got. How was he supposed to break such horrible news when his father was so overjoyed? It was going to be horrible. Not just for the king, but for Troy. What help could he be to the castle or kingdom being all headless?

"But...but...but..." he began to stammer.

"And for you, my young son..." the king said as he picked up a sword.

Troy's eyes widened. Oh yeah, here it came. He collapsed off the chair and fell onto his knees. Oh well, if he had to go then there was only one way he was going to go...not like a baby.

"A knighthood!" King Jack exclaimed. He then tapped the sword to Troy's shoulder. "With this mighty sword I hereby dub you Sir...um...Sir...." Dang, the king had no idea what kind of title to give his own son! how could he be so pathetic? But Jack couldn't let him know that. Removing the sword from Troy's shoulder the king then asked, "You know what, you tell me. What title would you like?"

Alright, it was now or never. Better get it over with while he could still speak. "Sir...she got away."

King Jack scratched his chin. "Sir She Got Away? Hm...that's an interesting title. But if it's what you want,' he cleared his throat, "I hereby dub you Sir She Got Aw..." Before even finishing that last word, Jack's face began to heat up. His cheeks grew red with anger and steam was almost completely visible coming out of his ears. "SHE WHAT?" he screamed.

"Dad...in all honesty I did try to tell you..."

"You...you...YOU TRAITOR!"

"Dad, wait! Your blood pressure!"

"TRAITOR!" Jack bellowed once more. Aiming the sword, the king then ended up slashing the cigar in Troy's mouth in half. Troy instantly spit it out and ducked behind the chair.

"Dad I just need a minute to explain..." he panicked.

"SABOTAGE!" The sword came in contact with the chair, breaking it in half. He then chased his son around a table. "I should have known this was a trick by you! You wanted to be the favorite! Oh you sneaky, sneaky boy! You're going to get it now young man! Prepare to meet your maker!"

"That's not true..." Troy replied as he crawled under the table to the other side, avoiding Jack and his weapon.

Jack then sliced the table into two. "STOP FEEDING ME THESE LIES, BOY!"

"I don't know what happened to her, she vanished into thin air!"

"A LIKELY STORY!" King Jack rolled his eyes as his sword connected with the back of Troy's jacket.

Troy tripped and fell onto the bed, starting to jump up and down on it thanks to extreme softness and bounciness. "But it's true, sir!"

Jack jumped onto the bed and began boucing up and down as well, though every time he tried to hit Troy with the sword he ended up missing. Gotta love the father/son bond.

"The whole thing was a plot!"

"She left behind this glass slipper! It's all true!"

"It was a plot, I say!"

"But Dad, he does love her! Chad won't rest until he finds that girl!"

"You weren't even smart enough to get her name! What kind of a royal advisor man are you?"

"Chad plans to marry her!"

Jack's nightshirt worked like a parachute as Troy said that, causing the king to lightly fall back onto the bed. "Say wha?"

Bouncing on the bed once more, Troy managed to get tangled up in the chandelier on the ceiling. He stuggled to pull out the slipper as his father landed on the lights with him. "Chad swore he's not gonna marry anyone except the girl who fits this slipper."

"He said that, huh?" King Jack grinned widely. He snatched the slipper from Troy and kissed the heel.

Troy raised an eyebrow at his father. "Dad, do you even know where that slipper's been?"

"By jove, we've got it!" King Jack exclaimed, waving his sword in happiness. The sharp end met with the wire holding the chandelier, causing it and the men to fall onto the bed once more, but to also have the chandelier mark a large hole in it. But the king didn't even seem to care. Even as he fell onto the busted bed he couldn't help but scream with pride, "YA-HOO-HOO-HOOIE!" Oh great, now he thought he was Goofy. Not like he wasn't goofy enough. Definitely had something to do with the blood pressure.

Troy slowly sat up, rubbing his head after falling. "Off the record Dad, that slipper can fit any number of girls."

"That's Chad's problem." King Jack replied as he rubbed the slipper, which was miraculously not damaged in the fall. "You said that he said he'd marry whoseever shoe fits that slipper. All we have to do is find the first girl the slipper does fit. We're just doing what Chad wants."

"What if the shoe fits a guy?" Troy inquired.

"Well..." King Jack rolled his eyes and shook his head before tossing the shoe back to Troy, which he luckily caught. "That's still his problem. And it'll be your job to find that girl...or possibly guy."

Great, Troy had to go and open his big fat mouth. He set the slipper down back on a part of the bed that was still soft and undamaged from the chandelier. "I'm sorry Dad, but I won't have any part in this. Chad was head over heels in love with that one girl, not any girl. I'm only gonna help him find that one. He'd do the same for me."

"Well that's very noble and brotherly of you," Jack nodded, "but I'm going to make this nice and simple." He picked up the sword once more and slipped it into the soul of the shoe, picking it up and practically stuffing the slipper in Troy's face. "You'll be personally trying this thing on every maid in my kingdom! And if the shoe fits then bring her in. Chad can do the rest. Understood, man?"

Troy gulped, having the slipper and the sword come in such close contact with him. How did he even get mixed up in this again? All he was trying to do was help Chad. But now he was getting into even more than he bargained for. This would not end well, Troy just knew it. It was going to take forever to find the right girl. As much as he wanted to back out now, Troy couldn't. Sure he did get thrown off with his father's glood pressure and mood swings. Sure maybe sometimes he had a slight tendency to be scared easily. And sure, even he couldn't talk to the girl of his own dreams without sweatinb. But he couldn't let Chad down. And especially not King Jack. The king was the one that started this in the first place, setting up the ball and having Chad meet every young woman in the kingdom. Heck if it weren't for that then the prince would have never even known the girl existed. So really, Jack was the matchmaker. Boy that was a scary thought, a man like him in a diaper with love arrows. Not a pretty picture. But the bottom line was, Troy was doing this for Chad. Not for anyone else. Just Chad. And if he got out of this alive then Chad owed him big time. So all he could do was deal with what he had to and nod at his father's...insistant request.

"Yes, your majesty."

* * *

Another short chapter. I couldn't exactly figure out how to make this one go much longer. But then that might be overdoing the humor in it. This was a little difficult since we really see the king so crazy here and we know Jack is nothing like that, so the only logical thing to do was to blame it on the blood pressure. A lot of love going on between him and Troy, you can just tell how close they are. XD And again, i'm sorry for keeping you guys waiting longer than intended. I am seeing a friend two days this week and have to go about working for the summer, so I'll see when that gives me a chance to update again this week. But we really can't let up now, we gotta see where this story ends! So next up, we get to see what happens when the whole kingdom finds out about this proclamation thingy. That'll be something, alright. We'll head back to Taylor, Darbus, and the stepsisters and see how they react. Get ready to see probably the...if not, then one of the...most essences of Disney villain-ry in any Disney movie.


	15. Chapter 14

Yes, I'm putting up a new chapter already. Like i implied, I gotta make up for all the time lost on this story. Don't worry, no complaining about how tiring homework was or anything so you guys don't have to hear about that. But first thing's first you guys should know the most important thing from the last chapter...**no humans, objects, or cartoon characters were harmed in the writing of the previous chapter**. Ok, maybe the table and the bed, but everything else was one of those breakaway objects. Anyway, let's move on and see what this chapter has in store for us. The king's message has finally gotten out so now we get to see how everyone in the kigdom reacts to it, particularly our semi favorite family..or maybe it's our most semi-hated family. It's one of those, i just can't remember cause i didn't eat breakfast yet. So let's get started with the chapter and bring on the...the um...the whatever word best describes this chapter.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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With a monarchy like the one in this tiny kingdom, any law or proclomation could be approved and passed in a few hours or less. And with the king's new proclomation, it was up in front of his castle gates at the peak of everyone's days, when they were off going to work and crowding the streets. Even as an extra precaution, an abridged version was delivered by express to every house in the kingdom. Not only was the importance of the notice highlighted by the big, red, bold letters on top reading "By the King - A Proclomation", but there was even a picture of the prince's face at the bottom right next to King Jack's signature. And Prince Chad was one of the things most girl gawked at around there. Him, and usually some kind of furry creature like puppies or kitties. But no matter how the urgency of the proclomation was highlighted or what had to be done, everyone was going crazy. Most people just stood to read the abridged version because the original itself was too long and boring to read. The proclomation arriving at everyone's homes read as follows:

_All loyal subjects of his Royal Majesty King Jack are notified in regards to one glass slipper. Said slipper was worn on the night of the royal ball by the young woman Prince Chad himself was dancing with. At exactly midnight, said slipper was left in our doman, leaving us on a quest to find the maid. The sole quest to find the woman is as follows: Every single maid in our beloved kingdom shall try on the shoe made of glass. Should a miad be found whose foot fits perfectly, such maiden will be acclaimed the object of this search and the one true love of our brave and noble, his Royal Highness, Prince Chad. He will then take the young maid's hand in marriage to have and to hold in love and in sickness and so on and so fourth. They will then rule over our land as the new rulers of the kingdom as the Royal Prince Chad and his future Queen._

As soon as everyone had read that, the girls went crazy waiting for the Grand Duke Troy and the footwoman Gabriella to come and announce their arrival and prupose for coming before having any maid in the house try on the glass slipper. As soon as the proclomation was up and sent out, the two began traveling around the kingdom via carriage to begin their quest. But for a small village there was a lot of people living in there and more than so many girls. It was going to take a long time to find the right girl. And they had very little to go by with Chad's description of her. Apparently the night of the ball he just kept getting lost in the girl's big brown eyes. So basically, all they had to by to find the girl was brown eyes and a foot that fit the glass slipper. Oh yeah, should be a piece of cake. Not. Especially with all the girls who were just begging to get married to the prince, insisting that they were the right one. If there was one bright side it was this: Troy was just glad all these girls weren't going gaga over him.

In the meantime, Darbus found herself getting the mail early in the morning as Taylor began her daily chores. But the second that Darbus laid eyes on the official proclomation, she ran towards the stairs and up to her daughters' rooms. Stopping in mid staircase, she realized th girls would still be sound asleep by now. Must she do everything? Sighing heavily, the stepmother decided to bother Taylor in the middle of her sweeping and have her suspicions confirmed.

"Taylor!" she yelled. "Taylor! Where is that son of a...?"

Downstairs, Taylor appeared from behind one of the doors with her broom. She could see Darbus at the top of the staircase, knowing she was the one calling. It was either better or wose than having Sharpay or Tiara yell at her. Holding in a sigh, Taylor decided to see what her stepmother wanted.

"You called stepmother?" she asked in her most calm voice.

"Oh." Darbus rolled her eyes. What took this girl so long to respond? "My daughters, where are they?" she demanded.

"I believe they're still in bed." Taylor answered. "Is something the matter?" She was just able to hide a smug little look as Darbus wasn't paying attention. That's right, let the crazy stepsisters annoy the creepy stepmother. That's what we wanted. Let them drive each other crazy for once.

Darbus sighed heavily as she continued to the girls' room. "Well don't just stand there! Bring up the breakfast trays at once!"

That certainly didn't answer Taylor's question. But she knew better than to keep the girls waiting for food. They could really eat like pigs when they were that hungry. Then again, look who they were raised by. Turning on her heel, Taylor left the broom against the wall and headed to the kitchen to gather the morning food. Down beside her, Zeke and Jason exchanged confused looks. They couldn't help but wonder wht really got Darbus on edge today. Somethign big was definitely going on. It was just a matter of what. Was Darbus finally getting some plastic surgery to make her look attractive? Were they selling Ryan to a cat dealer? Were they finally going to take off their Halloween costumes? Oh wait, those were their faces.

"Wonder what's a matta." Zeke said to Jason.

"Uh-huh. What up wit lady?" Jason asked, pointing up to where the stepmother had gone.

"I jus asked dat." Zeke replied.

Jason put his finger to his chin. "Oh yeah." he realized.

"C'mon Jase Jase. Les find out." Zeke said grabbing his friends arm. They ran over to one of the many well hidden mouse holes in the room. The squeezed through it and climbed up through the house to get to one of the stepsisters' rooms. Knowing Darbus, she'd visit her younger daughter first. Knowing exactly where to go, Zeke led Jason on the tiny path into Tiara's room. By the time the mice got in there, hiding safely behind the ends of one of the curtains, Darbus was already in there insisting that Tiara get up.

"Tiara! Tiara wake up!" Darbus demanded as she turned on the lights.

From under her lacey blankets, Tiara yawned. She pulled off her sleep mask and rubbed her eyes. "Not now, Mother. I'm still tired. Just wake me up when the crumpits are ready."

"There are no crumpits for breakfast." Darbus replied as she opened up the curtains, though luckily enough didn't see Zeke or Jason as they already jumped back into the mouse hole. "Get up and come to your sister's room immediately. We haven't a moment to lose!" With that, Darbus exited and went next door to Sharpay's room. But knowing Tiara still wouldn't get up so easily, the stepmother yelled once more before opening the door. "I said get up, Tiara!" She then stormed into Sharpay's room, half almost eager looking and half annoyed. The news she was about to share with her daughters were the biggest thing to happen in years. But of course because they were so lazy and cranky in the morning, if it got Taylor annoyed then it really drove Darbus crazy. Speaking of Taylor, Darbus wouldn't even think to share the news with that girl. To Darbus, Taylor was just a servant girl; thid would be of no importance to her. Besides there was no way in heck that the girl could even stand a chance with this; she'd been home that night balling her eyes out like the worthless dog she was - or so Darbus assumed.

"Sharpay." Darbus said as she entered the overly pink decorated room. "Sharpay!"

From a pair of candles in their holders attatched to the wall, Jason and Zeke peered through them to see what was going on. They stayed descretely hidden, only keeping the wax on their heads and the rest of their bodies in the holders. The pair watched as Darbus shook - or from what they thought, slapped - Sharpay's bed trying to wake her up.

"Get up this instant Sharpay!" Darbus repeated as she then went to turn on one of the lights.

Her head under the pillow to try and block out her mother's voice, Sharpay finally gave in. She yawned and sat up, though still kept the pillow against the back of her head. "What for? Why do we have to get up so early?"

"The whole kingdom's talking about it!" Darbus exclaimed. "The whole kingdom!"

"We got that, Mother." Sharpay yawned.

"Well then what are you waiting for? Hurry up and get derssed, they'll be here any minute!" Darbus told them.

Tiara appeared in the doorway, scratching her head and looking like a total mess...much like she and Sharpay did every morning before doing their hair and makeup. "The Kutchers coming again?" she asked sleepily.

"No, the Grand Duke!" Darbus answered as she opened up Sharpay's closet, the girls obviously too lazy to do anything themselves.

"He's kinda cute." Sharpay yawned.

"You'd think so." Tiara rolled her eyes as she plopped herself down on Sharpay's bed.

"Stop with your lolly-gagging! He'll be here any minute!" Darbus repeated once more.

"What for?" Tiara asked.

"He's been hunting all night." she explained.

"Who for?" Sharpay replied.

"That girl!" Darbus answered, becoming even more irritated with their cluelessness. As Darbus continued, Taylor made her way to Sharpay's room with the breakfast trays. For a moment, she thought of interrupting and saying that breakfast had arrived. Then again, after needing to interrupt their music lesson the other day, Taylor saw how bothered they were by her entrence. So she thought it best to just wait out the conversation before giving them their morning nutrition. Taylor stood quietly in the doorway as she listened to the conversation. She wasn't sure what was going on, only catching the last few sentences. What she didn't realize yet was that her past was coming back to haunt her. Alright, not necessarily haunt her, but it was coming back to her with something she'd never expect to hear.

"Which girl?" Sharpay inquired as she tried squirming back under the blankets.

"The girl from the rgand ball!" Darbus replied. "The one who was dancing with the Prince. She lost her glass slipper and now the Prince is on the move looking for her. He's sent his brother the Grand Duke to search the entire town for her. They say he's madly in love with her."

Taylor couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow. Something about that sounded familiar. Sure, she knew she was the one in the glass slippers, but it just didn't hit her yet. Her main reasoning for not believing it was her was simple: she wasn't dancing with the prince. She had been dancing with some insanely cute guy the whole night and almost missed the curfew her fairy godmother set for her. Surely that wasn't the prince. The prince was never even there...was he?

Tiara, still falling back to sleep and not catching all of what her mother said, then replied, "The king?"

"No, the Prince!" Darbus repeaetd louder. "Didn't you hear what I just said?"

Taylor blinked. That, she understood. "The Prince?" she whispered to herself. There was no way that was the Prince she was dancing with. It just couldn't be. What were even the odds of that? No, it just couldn't be her. It had to be some other girl. But the more Taylor started thinking about it, the more it made sense. She remembered that the ball was being held in honor of Prince Chad's return. There were all those girls lined up to meet him. But Taylor had arrived a little later into the ball; with all the girls surrounding the Prince, Taylor never even saw him. So if she didn't see him there, she wouldn't have seen him leave the crowd and go over to her. And then it hit her; wihle feeding Jimmie and the chickens a half hour ago, Taylor had heard messages going around town. And no one ever heard messages unless it was express mail. The delivery men were running around yelling they had important notices. And they were some of the fastest men in town; that's how words got around so fast. Taylor had recalled briefly looking up to see a small portion of one of the notices. Over the fence of her little farm, she couldn't see the delivery men or most of the notice. However she did see enough of it to tell that it was upside-down. Looking back on it, right next to the king's signature - and she knew it was his signature because it was written in giant letters in not exactly the best penmanship she's ever seen - was the Prince's picture. Taylor had thought nothing of it for the mere fact that she had never seen Prince Chad. And what she was just now realizing, able to work from her photographic memory, the face of the Prince was the face of the exact same man she had danced with! Letting the imagination run away with her, the breakfast trays slipped from Taylor's grasp and fell onto the floor, breaking into tons of tiny pieces.

Hearing the sudden crash, Darbus gasped and turned to her stepdaughter. What had she just done, breaking priceless china like that? "You clumsy bafoon! Clean that up!" she demanded.

Slowly snapping out of it, Taylor cautiosly got onto her knees and began gathering the broken pieces. She tried to keep her original face, not to let her step family know that she had been daydreaming or thinking about the Prince. But no that she knew the boy's identity, that changed everything. Ocassionally looking up and hearing the conversation, Taylor continued to clean the mess.

"Now both of you," Darbus told Sharpay and Tiara as she turned to them, "put on your finest dresses. Now!"

"Why should we?" Tiara replied as she climbed under her sister's blankets.

"Yeah." Sharpay agreed. "Besides he's in love with that girl. Why should we bother?" She then pulled the blankets over her and her sister in hopes of them being able to go back to sleep.

"Now you two, listen to me!" Darbus scolded as she pulled the blankets off of them.

Sharpay and Tiara gasped as she did that, quickly turning to face their mother. How embarrassing was it that their own mother just saw them almost falling asleep with their butts sticking up?

Darbus pointed back and forth between them. "There is still a chance that one of you can get him."

"One of us?" the sisters gasped in unison, their interests suddenly peaked. They exchanged glances and pointed at each other before looking back at Darbus. "But Mother, what do you mean?"

"Just listen," she replied raising a finger, "no one, not even the prince, knows who that girl was."

Jason's eyes widened and he smiled big as he heard that. He almost jumped out of the candle holder raising his little mouse hand. "We know! We know! It's Tay-Ta..."

He was cut off by Zeke jumping over and quickly covering Jason's mouth. Luckily Jason's tiny mouse voice was unheard by any of the step family. And Taylor was still trying to snap out of it that she hadn't heard her mouse friends either.

"The glass slipper is their only clue." Darbus explained as Taylor picked up the last pieces. "The Dule has been ordered to try it on every girl in the kingdom. Even the footwoman is going with him as a witness for this. And, by the King's command, if one girl can be found whose foot fits the slipper, that girl shall be the Prince's bride!"

Taylor gasped to herself, completely losing it now. She wasn't one to daydream or lose touch with reality that easily, but this was really getting to her. She knew she felt something with that guy she danced with. And now, knowing he was the Prince...well, it didn't exactly change anything. But it was adding a tip to the iceburg. Taylor hadn't once questioned her feelings for that guy. She had told her mouse friends about it and even they could tell how she felt. Maybe now Jason, but the rest could still see the sparkle in her eyes. Just finding out her dream guy was Prince Chad moments ago, Taylor assumed she was one of many girls he had flirted with or danced with..or made out with. But no one needed to know about that last part. She would have never expected that what they did was love. What is it that Darbus had said...? Madly in love? That was taking it to a whole new level. Taylor was starting to question how she felt. Should she be thrilled he felt the same way about her? Should she be afraid her step family would get in the way of her happiness? Should she be worried that if the Prince knew who she really was, he'd forget all about those feelings? What she still caught on was that whosever foot fit the slipper would be his bride. If there was ever a time she would be glad that she had kept dreaming, it was now.

"His bride..." she whispered in awe to herself. It was a dream come true!

"Hide bride!" the sisters gasped jumping out of bed. They immediately ran around the room starting to grab everything they could find, everything they liked, anything and everything at all. They just started piling the clothes up on top of the breakfast trays and broken dishes They took turns starting to yell at Taylor as they kept on running around, telling her what they wanted and what she should do.

"Taylor get my dress!"

"Taylor forget about her! Take care of me first!"

"I need my tiara to go with my dress!"

"I need these shoes with this dress!"

"and these!"

"You must fix my collar!"

"And this brush!"

"And my bows!"

"And..."

Sharpay then stopped dead in her tracks and took a moment to look at Taylor. The girl was just standing there with the happiest look on her face, like she was in the middle of a daydream. That was something Taylor never had, especially around them. Something wasn't right here. What was going on with this girl? She was supposed to listen to them, not tune them out!

"What's the matter with her?" Sharpay questioned.

Tiara stood beside her sister and looked at Taylor. She knew how to get Taylor out of it. "Wake up ,stupid!"

"We've gotta get dressed!" Sharpay added.

"Dressed?" Taylor repeated, still in a daze. She looked down at her working outfit and handed everything she was holding to Sharpay. "Oh yes. We must get dressed. We can't have anyone see us like this..."

Sharpay's jaw dropped as she watched Taylor just stroll out of the room. She turned to her mother angrily as Darbus stepped out of the room to watch Taylor. "Mother did you see what she just did to me?" Sharpay gasped.

"What she did to you?" Tiara argued, coming over. "She totally refused to do any of my work! What is her problem?"

Darbus held her arm in front of them. "Hush up, both of you." she scolded. She then turned to look at Taylor as her daughters slowlt returned to Sharpay's room. Darbus then carefully watched Taylor as she strolled happily down the hallway and towards the door to her bedroom.

"So this is love..." Taylor sang to herself. "So this is love..."

Darbus eyed the girl carefully. She squinted, her evil eyes glowing as a light breeze blew the curtains in the hallway closed. There was such a powerful look in her eyes through that darkness that said something. It wasn't just a look of pure evil. Darbus was no fool; she knew exactly what was going on. That wretch was trying to take a chance at royalty away from her girls. That wretch was acting all high and mighty. That wretch was in love. And that was the one who the Prince was in love with. It made Darbus sick. She waited until Taylor was a little out of sight as she strolled happily up the steps before slowly following her, ever so quietly as to not make her presence known. If there was ever a time to let her evilness shine through, now was the time.

Zeke and Jason quietly crawled to the door and ducked behind the staircase as they watched Darbus begin to go upstairs.

"What we gonna do?" Jason asked.

"No know. We gotta help Tay Tay." Zeke replied. He looked over to a mouse hole and the foot of the stairs. "C'mon Jase Jase. We go up." He said before running to it.

Jason nodded and followed his friend. The pair crawled into the mouse hole and began rushing up to the tower. Since it was a straight path, as opposed to the steps which were in more of a zig zag path, the mice were up there with just enough time to warn Taylor before Darbus was there. Now it was just a matter of stopping her. The mice crawled through another hole to get into Taylor's room. As they arrived inside they could see Taylor brushing her hair and dancing like she was on cloud nine. She was even humming to herself. No one had ever seen Taylor head over heels like that before. And now, what Zeke before anyone else except maybe Darbus was that this could be Taylor's chance to get out of here. No more step family, no more chores, no more sleeping in a tower, no more stupid life. But if they couldn't get Taylor back downstairs then that might not ever happen.

"La da da da da da..." Taylor sang as she continued brushing her hair, not even realizing that Zeke and Jason were crawling under her door."Tay Tay! Tay TAy!" they gasped, jumping up and down to get her attention. why did she have to pick now of all times not to pay attention to anything?

"So this is the miracle that I've been dreaming of..." she continued singing, feeling like the luckiest girl in the world.

Jason and Zeke climbed up the table, still calling out to her. When they were on top and within her sight they continued jumping up and down.

"Tay Tay!"

"Tay Tay!"

"you in twouble!"

"Tay Tay!"

"you gotta be carefy!"

"Tay Tay!"

"Look behind you!"

"Behind you!"

Finally noticing her little friends, Taylor looked down at them not even realizing the door was opening with Darbus in there. "What? What's the matter?"

"Tay Tay behind you!"

"Look out!"

"Tay Tay!"

Unfortunately Taylor had no idea what they were talking about. What were Zeke and Jason so worried about? What could possible be wrong? "Come on guys, tell me what's wrong." she told them, becoming a bit concerned.

That's when Zeke poined towards the door. Taylor raised an eyebrow from confusion. But from the corner of her eye she saw a reflection in the mirror. In that reflection she saw Darbus. Taylor gasped and turned around, shocked to see her stepmother grabbing the key out from the keyhole.

"Oh my God!" Taylor gasped. "What are you doing?"

Just as she was about to run over, Darbus slammed the door in Taylor's face and locked the door, the key safe in her hands.

Despite knowing she was trapped inside, that didn't stop Taylor from trying to get out. "Let me out! Let me out! What do you think you're doing? You can't keep me in here like this!" Suddenly, she didn't care what she said to her stepmother anymore. Taylor felt conflicted between anger and sadness. Yes she felt heartbroken that her one chance at happiness was now being taken away from her. But she was also feeling so much hatred for her stepmother, more than she ever felt in her life. Taylor knew now that Darbus had figured it out. She didn't necessarily doubt that her stepmother was stupid. But why did it have to be now of all times? The Grand Duke was going to be here soon and she wouldn't be down there to try on the slipper. For all she knew, the slipper could fit one of her stepsisters' feet and Prince Chad would be off marrying one of them. Or even worse, the shoe could fit another girl perfectly and they could live happily ever after. That was supposed to be Taylor out there, no one else. Beginning to lose all hope, Taylor slowly slid down to her knees. There was no other way out of the tower. She was stuck. There was no hope left.

Peeking their heads from under the door, Zeke and Jason watched as Darbus tucked the key safely in her dress pocket. Then with a smirk, she descended down the stairs to help get her daughters ready. Jason crawled out from under the door first and held up his fist.

"She can't do dat to Tay Tay! Dat lady in so much twouble! I'm gonna..." he started.

Zeke quickly grapped his friend and snapped him out of it. "Sh!" he whispered before watching Darbus slowly begin to leave the staircase. He then let go of Jason, feeling just as angry as Jason and Taylor were at Darbus. There was no way Darbus could get away with doing this. If only they were taller or something, then the mice would really let that evil witch have it. But one thing was for sure, she couldn't get away with this. And as much as the mice loved Taylor and would do anything for her, imagining the Prince hooking up with Sharpay and Tiara. They had to save him from that, too. And there was only one way that either of them could help anyone.

"We gotta get that key, Jase Jase! We just gotta get that key!"

* * *

Yup, sorry to leave you all in suspense at that point. So now we have to wait and see what happens when Troy and Gabriella finally arrive at the house. Boy that is going to be one crazy trip. Anyway, this chapter turned out longer than the last few so I really hope you guys enjoyed it. Well, until it started going all downhill with the evil-ness. Like I said at the end of the last chapter, this chapter had the scene of most evil. Remember in the movie how when Cinderella was all singing and going upstairs and then it got really dark and you could mostly only see the stepmother's eyes? Yeah, that really highlighted how evil she was. It was really hard to mimc that in here though. So now we are pretty much left at the climax. Will our heroes get out of this mess alive? Will there be a happily ever after? Will the shoe fit anyone? Will there be any food in the next chapter? ... Alright, we know the answer to a couple of those questions. I can't wait to read what you guys have to say about this, and hope you're enjoying yourselves. And have a nice day. Thanks for readiing everyone. ^_^


	16. Chapter 15

Alright after a weekend of cleaning and summer job hunting, I am finally updating this story. Man i hate how easy it is to get distracted by something. Don't you hate it when that happens? I hate it when that happens. Anyway, there's only a few chapters left here (if you don't count credits or a bonus music video type thing). So I'm ready to continue this. Are you guys ready? Well that doesn't really matter cause I'm starting it anyway.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

"Troy wake up."

Snoring.

"Troy?"

More snoring.

"Troy?"

One nudge.

Still snoring.

A sigh.

Then a snap of her fingers.

"Troy!"

Troy gasped and sat up in the carriage, looking all around as though he were getting attacked by Godzilla. "Who? What? When? Where? How? Why? Wha?"

Gabriella leaned back on the carriage seat and lightly folded her arms. "You were out like a light. You must be exhausted."

Troy yawned and rubbed his eye. "I am." he nodded. "Where's the glass slipper?"

Gabriella pointed knowingly to Troy's lap. "Right there."

Troy looked down to see the slipper safely on a pillow in his lap, though the thin cloth that had concealed it from the women until their arrival had fallen to the floor.

"Right, right. Of course." Troy nodded as he sleepily picked up the cloth.

Gabriella sighed. She knew Troy was completely out of it when he was tired. They had searched endlessly for hours on end trying to find Chad's mystery girl and were now returning to the castle for a status report. It was Troy's job to go around the kingdom announcing the royal proclamation and see who the slipper fit. Gabriella was there to accompany him as the royal footwoman, and to have a witness for who the shoe did and didn't fit. Plus, it came in very handy to have someone that helped keep him awake once in a while. But even Gabriella knew that in between trips Troy did need a quick nap. unfortunately, a quick nap didn't seem like enough. She knew reporting back to Prince Chad on how the search was going wasn't going to take long, but it would be a good idea if Troy did get a little more shut eye. So Gabriella, not only being the loyal member of the castle but also a caring friend, made Troy an offer as the carriage arrived in front of their home.

"Why don't you stay in here and rest a little longer? I'll go talk to Chad."

Troy shook his head. "He's my brother. I have to tell him how it's going."

"If you keep going like this you'll fall fast asleep by the time we reach the next house." she replied. "I'll wake you up when you get there."

"Oh...I'm not that tired." Troy lied, even though a yawn did escape him.

Gabriella smiled lightly and shook her head. "Nice try, Grand Duke. I'll be back out in a few minutes." She then exited the carriage and made her way into the castle.

Troy yawned and looked to the carriage driver. "Do I really seem that tired?" he couldn't help but ask.

The driver looked at him with an obvious look. "You've barely even tried to hit on the footwoman all trip."

"You know about that?" Troy asked sleepily.

"Sire, the only one who doesn't know about it is your father and the footwoman herself." he responded.

Troy sighed and collapsed back into his seat. Could they go back to worrying about Chad's love life now? Alright, maybe after a nap. Not even waiting another second, Troy fell right to sleep.

Gabriella entered the castle and made her way right to the kitchen, knowing that's where the prince would be right about now. Not just because it was about time to eat, but because sometimes Chad ate when he was freaking out. And what a shock, that's exactly where he was. Chad was sitting at the counter nibbling on a piece of toast just staring into space. Gabriella took a deep breath and walked over to him.

"Good morning, Prince."

Chad turned to see his friend enter. "How's the search going?" he asked immediately.

Gabriella sighed and shook her head. "Not so good." she admitted. "We had a couple of close ones, but the shoe just didn't fit them. It's like the shoe was made this unexisting size so it wouldn't fit anyone."

"Well it had to fit that girl or else I wouldn't have been dancing with her." Chad replied.

"That doesn't make any sense." she told him.

"Sorry. I didn't get much sleep last night." Chad said.

"Worried about not finding the dream girl?" Gabriella guessed.

"Yeah... And it didn't help that Dad was up complaining most of the night either." he answered.

Gabriella nodded knowingly. "His favorite contestant got eliminated off that Idol show didn't it?"

"Yeah. That's exactly what happened. Dad was throwing a fit all night." Chad replied. "Even with a simple singing contest he's not competing in, Dad gets competitive."

"You know, you could always get away from that by helping us search the kingdom. I'm sure you'd know the girl as soon as you see her." she suggested.

"I wish." Chad said. "But I can't leave my dad here alone. Someone's gotta hold down the fort. Besides, the second I step out of the castle you know there's gonna be a mob of girls all over me."

Gabriella couldn't help but laugh. "Stop kidding, Chad."

Chad raised an eyebrow. Gabriella knew that a lot of girls had a tendency to surround him uncontrollably. Why would she think he was joking?

He shook his head and snapped out of it. "Anyway how much more of the kingdom to go?"

"Around half." she estimated. As soon as she saw Chad's face fall, Gabriella quickly added, "But I'm sure we'll find her soon."

"Thanks for trying to help." Chad sighed.

"Is there anything else you can tell us about her so we can narrow it down?" Gabriella inquired.

"Sure, I'll just draw a picture. Cause I'm sure you'll be able to tell a lot from a stick figure." Chad said sarcastically.

As much as Gabriella really wanted to laugh, this was no laughing matter. "Are you sure you can't tell me anything else about her?"

"No." Chad answered. "Sorry I get distracted so easily."

"Right, because all guys get lost in a girl's big brown eyes." Gabriella responded with a light sarcastic manner.

"Yeah, Troy does that with you all the time." Chad mumbled.

"What was that?" Gabriella quirked an eyebrow.

"Nothing." he replied quickly.

Gabriella nodded slowly. "I guess I'd better go continue that search."

"Thanks Gabs." Chad said. "You're a good friend."

"Yeah, and if we find her today you owe me twenty bucks." she giggled.

Chad's draw dropped. "It's all about money with you isn't it?" he asked, pretending to sound insulted.

"Alright, we can skip the money." she smiled and rolled her eyes. She thought for a minute before innocently asking, "Think instead you can get me a date with Troy?"

Chad couldn't help but grin. Oh yeah, he knew that had to come at some point. He knew Gabriella liked Troy despite his brother's worry and nerves. But he wasn't about to rub it in Gabriella's face after everything she did for him.

"Deal." he agreed. He then held up a finger, "But just remember, I can pop up any time anywhere."

"Unless you're with your girl." Gabriella teased playfully with a wink before turning to leave.

"Yeah, that's if you find her first." Chad called after her.

"I'm on it." Gabriella called back. "Unless we find her today, we'll be back tonight with another status report." She then headed out of the castle and back to the carriage, though not before picking up the coffee pot with fresh coffee all made and a mug. If she wasn't going to need it soon, then Troy most definitely would. By the time she did return to the carriage, Troy was sound asleep. Gabriella placed the coffee on the seat and kept one hand over it so it wouldn't fall over. She gave the driver the word and they continue throughout the kingdom. Opting not to wake Troy up, Gabriella looked through a small map of the kingdom to see where they were heading. They were starting to head further away from the castle and were going around to the smaller, less fortunate areas. Of course, as they entered such areas there was still signs of money. The houses were smaller than the ones they'd been in so far, but the people in there were still well off. Further investigating the map, Gabriella saw that the Darbus chateau was the next stop. She looked towards Troy after putting the map away, who was still fast asleep. It wouldn't be long before they arrived, and Troy would need something to wake him up. Gabriella sat in silence - well what would be silence if not for Troy's snoring - and waited patiently until they would arrive at their first destination for the day.

Meanwhile, as Jason and Zeke made their way downstairs they could hear the sound of a trumpet - what would the mice call that sound? - trumpeting. The two climbed up to one of the windows to see the royal carriage parking outside the house and, through one of the carriage's tiny windows, they could see a girl and a guy, one of which was waking up. Zeke jumped up and down and tuned to Jason.

"He here! He here!" he exclaimed.

"Uh...who here?" Jason asked, confused.

"Gwand Duke!" Zeke replied.

Jason's ears twitched. "Gwand Duke?" he repeated.

"Yeah. Wit da swipper." Zeke nodded. "C'mon. We gots to hurry." He then climbed down the window.

Jason nodded. "Zhu zhu. Zhu zhu pet." he replied, following his friend. "We go now."

The trumpet continued to sound and the stepsisters wasted no time in rushing to the window to get a good look outside. It was nothing like they'd ever seen before. The carriage was so fancy, the horses were so white, the Grand Duke looked so cute yet sleepy...oh, and that footwoman girl was a bunch of show-off fanciness. Sharpay and Tiara just knew that girl was trying to rub her good looks in their faces. She was challenging them, they just knew it. Still, their slightly overactive imaginations just couldn't outweigh their excitements for the Grand Duke. This was their chance to get with royalty and they weren't about to pass it up without a fight.

"Mommy! He's here! He's here!" Sharpay exclaimed.

"The Grand Duke!" Tiara added.

Sharpay ran over to the nearest mirror and automatically began fixing her makeup. "I'm just so excited. I really hope he likes me dress."

Tiara rolled her eyes and bumped Sharpay out of the way so she could get more mirror time. "In your dreams." she replied, beginning to powder her face.

"Now girls," Darbus said as she entered the room.

That didn't stop Sharpay from bumping her sister out of the way and begin powdering her nose.

Darbus stopped at the door and turned to them. "This is no time for fooling around. We have to get serious. Remember, this is your last chance so don't fail me."

The sisters immediately hushed up as Darbus turned back to the door. Maintaining her best posture, she opened the door to see Gabriella standing there blowing the trumpet. In her free hand was the pillow which, under the cloth, had the slipper safe and sound. Gabriella had been doing this all morning so she had gotten used to it very easily. Luckily, she had been able to wake up Troy once they arrived. Even though she did offer him some coffee, he only took one sip. However Gabriella kept the coffee in tact just in case he needed more. Once putting the trumpet down, Gabriella politely cleared her throat and stepped aside.

"Announcing his Imperial Grace, the Grand Duke."

Ascending up the stairs and into their home was none other than Troy, looking about as awake as he did when they had stopped at the castle.

Darbus lightly bowed, putting on her absolute best impression for Troy. "Sire, what an honor it is to have you grace our humble home." Oh yeah, what a kiss up.

Troy yawned quietly and just have a nod. "Yes, ma'am. Quite so."

As he entered, Gabriella put the trumpet away and walked in behind him with the coffee. "Troy, do you want another sip before we get started?" she whispered.

"Nah, I'm fine. I'm fine." Troy replied sleepily.

Zeke and Jason crawled from under one of the tables, carefully watching everything that was going on. The guy looked like he had just rolled out of bed, and the step family looked as bad as ever. The girl...well, the girl actually looked decent.

Darbus cleared her throat, deciding to get right to the point. "May I present my daughters," she announced, gesturing to the now curtsying sisters, "Sharpay and Tiara."

"Your Grace." Sharpay giggled flirtatiously, most likely to get on his good side.

Troy couldn't help but shudder. It wasn't like the girls were unattractive, they most certainly were. But Troy could tell one thing about them right away, and that was they'd do anything to get in anyone's face. The girls just seemed like the kind to stop at nothing to get what they wanted. It was that which Troy feared the most. He even recalled them being introduced to his brother at the ball. He had been able to tell how bored Chad really looked with them. The ironic part, however, was that right after being introduced to Tiara and Sharpay was when Chad had seemed to go to the mystery girl. In the back of Troy's mind, he almost wondered if there was a connection to these sisters and that girl. If only he was awake enough to really think that through. But thanks to his sleepy attitude, his only response was,

"Yes. Quite so."

Gabriella cleared her throat. As much as she hated putting Troy through all of this, there was still the matter of the slipper. But according to the rules, they couldn't get started until Troy read the proclamation. Yes, a strange rule perhaps, but it was the rules and they had to follow them. She pulled the law out from her pocket and took it over to Troy.

"His Grace will now read the Royal Proclamation." she announced.

Troy yawned and took the paper from Gabriella before beginning to read. "All loyal subjects oh his Imperial Majesty are hereby notified by Royal Proclamation..."

As Troy spoke the proclamation, Zeke climbed up the table which Darbus was standing by. Zeke then turned to the edge of the table and helped Jason climb up.

"...that in regards to a certain glass slipper, it is upon this that a quest..." Troy continued as Gabriella lifted the cloth and revealed to the women of the house the small glass slipper safely perched on the pillow, only to be interrupted by Tiara.

"Why, that's my slipper!" Tiara exclaimed.

Gabriella raised an eyebrow and looked to Tiara. She didn't expect a response that quick; all the other women at least had the decency to wait until Troy finished waiting to flurt out that it was their slipper before fighting over it with someone.

"A likely story!" Sharpay gasped. "Ignore that liar over there, she's always trying to steal my things. That's my slipper!"

"No, no, no! Dat not you swipper! It Tay Tay's! It Tay-" Jason started, waving his little mouse fist as he started crawling out of a tea cup he and Zeke had just gone to hide in for the time being.

Zeke quickly covered his friend's mouth and pulled him back into the cup. He put a finger to his mouth and shushed him. This would be the worst possible time to get caught. They couldn't afford to have their cover blown.

"How could you stand there and lie like that?" Tiara demanded to Sharpay. "I'll prove it's my slipper!" She ran towards Gabriella to grab the slipper from her.

"No, I'll prove it's my slipper!" Sharpay replied as she did the same thing.

Gabriella ducked just as the girls reached her and managed to get halfway to the other side of the room, the slipper remaining safely on the pillow. She sighed with relief, knowing that if anything happened to the slipper, the Prince would never forgive her. And hopefully have a warrant out for these girls' arrests.

"Girls, girls." Darbus told her daughters. "You must control yourselves. Remember, your manners." She then turned back to Troy. "A thousand apologizies, your Grace. Please continue."

Troy glanced to Gabriella, who merely sighed and shrugged her shoulders. Obviously there was no way around this. As much as Troy would have loved to get out of there, he had a job to do. If they had any luck on their side, they would get this out of the way as fast as possible. Heck, if he wasn't so tired he would have shown those girls for even trying to get Gabriella in the middle. Sadly, being so exhausted his mental capacity was growing thin. He sighed and went back to reading the paper.

"...be instituted throughout the length of our domain. The sole and express purpose of said quest is as follows to wit..."

Darbus tapped her fingers against the table as she listened to the Grand Duke. As she did so, Zeke slowly poked his head out from inside the tea cup. He looked around for a moment, then saw Darbus right nearby the table. He tapped Jason on the shoulder, getting his friend's attention and pointing over to Darbus' dress pocket. The same pocket where she had placed the key in to keep Taylor locked in the tower. The mice ducked back into the tea cup and Zeke whispered quietly and used hand motions to try and explain to Jason what he was going to do. Somehow, Jason understood every word that Zeke was saying. After Jason nodded, Zeke looked outside the cup once more to make sure the coast was clear. He slowly stepped out of the safety zone and onto the table.

"That every single woman in our beloved kingdom shall try upon her foot this aforementioned slipper of glass, and should one be found whose foot shall properly fit said slipper..."

Jason followed Zeke out, only to trip as he climbed out of the cup and fall onto Zeke's tail. As Zeke tried moving forward, he realized he couldn't. He turned to see Jason on his tail. Zeke sighed and lightly pushed his friend off, shushing him once more just in case. The mice then tip-toed past Darbus' tapping hand and made their way to the edge hoping to find a way to get the key from her pocket.

"...such maiden will be acclaimed the object of this search..."

Zeke made his way to the edge of the table first with Jason right behind him. As much as he tried to reach the pocket on his own, Zeke just couldn't do it. He turned to Jason and waved, then pointed at his tail. Jason nodded, understanding. He walked over and held Zeke by the tail as Zeke then lowered himself into Darbus' pocket. He reached in to grab the key, but it was all the way at the bottom, unable to reach on his own. Unfortunately, it was too risky to even say anything or give any kind of signal or else Darbus would notice for sure. Zeke found himself in a bit of a pickle right now. In the meantime, Jason kept a grip on Zeke's tail, waiting for some kind of sign to pull him back up. He then looked up to Darbus, who was actually looking up the stairs as though she were looking right at the tower. Darbus smirked, knowing that there was no way Taylor could get out in time. However, one thing that the old witch forgot to overlook was the long term effects of this plan. Should the glass slipper not fit either of her daughters, then Troy and Gabriella would continue their search, only to find another girl whose foot would fit the slipper or to not find anyone at all and let Prince Chad live alone in despair and loneliness for the rest of his life. All that could come out of this for the sake of Darbus' family was that they have a miserable slave for the rest of their - and Taylor's - lives.

"...and the one and only true love of his Royal Highness, our Noble Prince Chad. And said Royal Highness will humbly request the hand of said maiden in marriage..."

She then moved her hand down to her pocket, as a precaution to make sure the key hadn't somehow gotten up and escaped from her pocket. Jason caught this and had no choice but to let go of Zeke's tail and run back to the safety of the cup. Zeke fell into the pocket, only to have his head come in contact with the key. He rubbed his head and started to try to pick it up, then caught sight of Darbus' hand. He ducked under the key, hoping that the lady wouldn't realize he was hiding in there. Jason even covered his eyes, unable to contain the suspense. From inside the pocket, Zeke watched as Darbus' hand tightly gripped the key, merely inches away from his little mouse nose. Darbus let go of the key and Zeke sighed with relief, just before the key fell back on top of him. Darbus removed her hand from her pocket and patted it, which then caused the key to push back and forth between Darbus' hand and against Zeke which made him very dizzy.

"...to rule with him over all the land as Royal Princess and future Queen."

Troy sighed with relief as he finished the last word. He felt his body letting him down, getting weaker and weaker. He started to fall back, almost onto the floor, if not for Gabriella moving a chair behind Troy for him to collapse on just in time.

"You must be quite fatigued, Your Grace." Darbus said as she reached for a pot of tea...and the cup that Jason was now hiding in.

Jason gasped as that happened, becoming more frightened. oh boy, he was a goner. He just knew this was how he was going to die - by the liquid of evil tea. Oh he knew that hot tea was bad, he just knew it!

"Wha? T?" Troy yawned. "I know my name starts with T."

Gabriella cleared her throat. "What he means to say, ma'am, is no thank you." she answered for Troy politely. "I brought a pot of coffee with me should his Sire require it."

"Very well." Darbus responded, taking the tea pot away from the cup and having Jason sigh with relief knowing he wouldn't drown in a hot drink.

"anyway..." Troy said sleepily, "we need to proceed with the operation. I mean, the fitting."

"Of course." Darbus nodded as she placed the pot and cup back down on the table. "Sharpay, dear."

Sharpay smiled innocently and as sweetly as possible as she pulled over a chair for her to sit on. She sat herself down and removed one of her shoes. Gabriella then carefully took the glass slipper from the pillow and brought it over to Sharpay. Gabriella then knelt down in front of Sharpay to assist with getting the shoe on. Hey, it was a job. Someone had to do it. And at least she was awake enough to pay more attention. She slipped the shoe on Sharpay's foot, and, much to her surprise...it fit!

"There! I knew it was my slipper." Sharpay smiled, admiring how perfectly it looked on her foot. "Why, it's just my size. I always wear the same size. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was..." She then gasped as Gabriella lifted Sharpay's foot to show everyone...and to reveal that the slipper didn't fit her! Sharpay had hit half her foot underneath her pink dress to make it look like the shoe had fit when in reality it was just too small for her. Gabriella even held in a smirk to herself. She knew that the shoe couldn't have fit this girl so easily. Something about it just hadn't seemed right.

Sharpay began fiddling with her hair, trying to think of anything and everything to convince them the shoe was hers. "Well..it must be a tad stiff. You know how it is...dancing all night. Swollen feet."

For some reason, Gabriella just didn't like this girl. But she kept on her same polite face. "Well then, let me help you with that." she offered before trying to smush Sharpay's foot into the shoe.

"I can handle it myself, thank you." Sharpay insisted as she tried to push Gabriella away from her. "I mean, it has always fit perfectly before. I don't understand why it wouldn't now. It's my show, I can figure something out."

Managing to grab the key from Darbus' pocket, Zeke pushed it up to the top. He held it out towards the table, hoping that Jason could reach it. unfortunately it was just too far away. Seeing the tea pot behind him, Jason tied his tail onto the nozzle and used that as a balance beam to help him stay on the table while trying to grab the key unbeknown to Darbus.

"I don't think you're trying hard enough." Sharpay insisted to Gabriella. She would have been much harsher, if Gabriella wasn't working for royalty...or if royalty wasn't right there in the same room.

"Excuse me, but I am the expert. I think I know what I'm doing." Gabriella replied.

"Mother can you believe this?" Sharpay gasped.

"Sh. We must be quiet, Sharpay." Darbus said calmly, looking to a now snoozing Troy. "We mustn't disturb his Grace."

Zeke looked up to Darbus, holding in a sigh of relief. So they were safe, still trying to get the key out of the pocket. Boy, was it a heavy key.

"Young lady, are you sure you're trying it on the right foot?" Darbus asked Gabriella, knowing not to push too much with anyone who had 'royal' in their title.

Jason pushed out once more to take the key, which then caused the pot to tip slightly, pouring a single drop of hot tea onto Jason's butt. He gasped and let go of the key, and his tail loosened from the nozzle. Jason, Zeke, and the key all then fell out and down onto the floor. Rolling from the carpet and somehow getting onto the tiled floor by the steps with the key, they then slid across the floor, though luckily not making a sound for anyone to notice.

"Oh it's the right foot." Sharpay told Darbus. "But there must be something wrong with it."

Jason lost his balance from the key and fell to the side.

"Sh." Zeke whispered. He briefly looked just in case to make sure they hadn't been caught. He then turned back to Jason and pointed up the stairs. "c'mon Jase Jase. Gotta snap outta it. Up da stairs. Up da stairs."

Jason looked up to the flight of stairs in front of them. Sure, it wasn't a lot, especially compared to the stairs they'd have to climb to get up the tower. But right now Jason was just so overwhelmed. After all, he'd gotten pushed into a tea cup, almost drowned in hot tea, got a butt burn from the hot tea, practically fell from one side of the room all the way to the other, and pretty much fell on his head. He desperately needed a break right now. Or a nap. Or maybe just some cheese. As far as Jason was concerned, cheese could cure anything right now. But on the other hand, helping save Taylor was bound to have a reward... Lots and lots of cheese! Jason could sure get into that.

Getting up to his feet, Jason helped Zeke take the key to the first of many steps. They first leaned the key up against it and Zeke climbed up it onto the first step. He pulled the key while Jason pushed it, actually getting the key onto the step pretty quickly. Jason then climbed onto the first step himself so they could then do the same thing with the second step. They continued doing that a little more than halfway through the staircase, though by then the mice were starting to get tired. And luckily enough, Sharpay was still arguing with Gabriella to get the shoe on her foot right. Those royal guys were going to be stuck here for a while, which hopefully should give Zeke and Jason just enough time to get the key up. After climbing onto the next step, Zeke made his way onto the next step as Jason tried to pick the key up on his own to hand to Zeke. That was a bad idea, since Jason almost backed to the edge of the step he was on, nearly falling down. Evidently, luck was on their side; Jason turned around in time and just managed to throw himself against the step, leaving Zeke with just enough chance to grab the key and pull it onto his step. Jason tried to make it onto the step alone, but found himself too exhausted to. Zeke went over and pulled his tail down to help Jason up.

"Sh," he told the struggling Jason once more. "We gots to be carefy. Don't wanna get catched. C'mon, we gotta get dis to Tay Tay."

Then, attempting a similar attempt again, the mice continued to try to make their way to the top. As they reached the final step, they could hear Sharpay banging against the piano keys downstairs. Fortunately, it wasn't against Gabriella's face or there would be major problems. Instead, Gabriella was trying to hold Sharpay still and get her to calm down; Sharpay refused to listen and somehow thought that hitting her foot - and the shoe - against the piano keys would make it fit.

"WHY CAN'T YOU HOLD STILL ON YOUR OWN AND LET ME TAKE CARE OF THIS MYSELF?" Sharpay demanded, loud enough to cause Troy to fall out of his peaceful sleep and the chair.

"Who? What? When? Where? Wha?" he looked around, shocked to be woken up so quickly. He then saw Gabriella struggling with Sharpay. If this continued, no way was it going to end pretty. Then again, maybe they should let it continue... No! They had a job to do. And it didn't stop now then someone would surely snap. "Alright, enough of this." Troy told them, causing Gabriella to let go of Sharpay and Sharpay to put her foot down. "Can we try it on the next young lady, please?"

"Yes, can we please?" Gabriella asked as politely as she could. But man, was it hard to maintain that after dealing with Sharpay. For one reason or another, that girl had it in for her. Hopefully Tiara would be more...what was the word? Behaved? Polite? Less angry? Human?

Zeke gasped as he heard that. He turned to a sweating Jason, who was lying beside the key. "You hear dat, Jase Jase? We gotta hurry!"

"Uh...huh. Uh...huh." Jason nodded in between breaths.

Zeke then picked up the key from the front end and started running as fast as he could to the tower. Jason held up the other end, following to the best of his ability. if it wasn't for his hope of getting all that cheese later, he would just wait for the cat to catch him and turn him into a mouse sandwich. Oh wait, that sounded too painful. Maybe he should just faint. That would put him out of his misery at least for a little while. But as Jason contemplated those ideas, he actually did faint...right after they had crawled under the door to the tower.

"Jase Jase." Zeke sighed as he dropped the key and went to his friend. He lightly slapped Jason's face, hoping to wake him up somehow. Sure, there weer a lot of stairs to cover. But with the way the girls were going over that shoe, maybe they stood a chance. Or maybe they could find some kind of shortcut. They could do it, Zeke knew they could. All he had to do was snap Jason out of it first. Piece of cake... Right?

"Oh Jase Jase."

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Yup, cliffhanger right there. It had to be done somewhere. Anyway this chapter was a little longer than I intended. I chose at the last minute to put something else Chad related in there so we could get more of a look at his character. I'll let you guys decide how that turned out. And we also had some interaction between Troy and Gabriella so we know something is going on - or maybe will go on - there. And the story wouldn't be complete without rivalry between Gabriella and Sharpay for no reason. Sure they have a reason in HSM, but we can't just put them in a story and have them be all friendly can we? And now we know for sure the only reason why Jason does have a part in this - to get some cheese. XD Actually, I think I could picture Jason in HSM wanting cheese. Not sure why. Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. And the next story I'm thinking of doing is a crossover between HSM and Princess and the Frog to honor Disney's newest movie and celebrate the return to classic animation. Cause we all know that's where the magic is. Anyway, let me know what you guys think, and of course if you so desire feel free to review the story. Can't wait to hear what you all have to say and hopefully there will be few distractions so I can then start working on the next chapter. C:


	17. Chapter 16

Hm...I know i always say one thing at the beginning of every chapter but i really can't think of anything to say here. So i guess the only thing really to say is, enjoy as usual.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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It wasn't like Taylor had spent her entire time locked in her room moping around depressed. She had attempted to figure out ways to get out. There was the option of going out the window...but it was a long drop down that would at best just paralyze her rather than killing her, not to mention there were no trees or anything nearby to grab a hold of to climb down on. She'd thought about calling her bird friends for help, but even that wouldn't turn out right; even the whole flock wouldn't be able to lift her out, and if she had sent them to get help then the animals would still need to figure out a way to get her out. There wasn't anything in her room to help knock down the door. She even tried the stupidest option which was just banging on the door trying to get it open. But it was just no use. Every logical way Taylor could think of to get out, there was just no way around it. She was plain stuck. Beginning to lose all hope, Taylor sighed and just sat up against the door. At this point there seemed to be no way around it. if Sharpay or Tiara figured out a way to get the slipper to fit one of them, Prince Chad would go off and marry one of them to live happily ever after. If the slipper fit neither of them, then the Grand Duke would leave and find some other girl who the slipper would fit, and Prince Chad would go off and marry that girl. Either way, the Prince would go off and marry some girl that wasn't Taylor. It wasn't that not marrying Prince Chad would be the end of the world...well it would be a huge part of it...but this had also been Taylor's one chance to get out of the house knowing everything would be alright and now it was ruined.

Taylor picked up her head and looked at the door once more, somehow hoping it would break itself down and she could run downstairs. But there was no such luck. She slowly stood up and walked over to her bed.

"It's no use," she sighed sitting down and putting her head in her hands, "it's hopeless."

There was a moment of silence. Only the two birds sitting in the window were keeping Taylor company, and they felt depressed knowing there was nothing they could do. It was a very sad silence. That is, until...

"Tay Tay!"

The birds picked their heads up and looked around, thinking they heard a faint almost squeaky yet familiar voice.

Taylor picked up her head out of her hands, thinking she had heard it as well. "Zeke?" she asked quietly, wondering if she was hallucinating.

Then came a tired, more weak response.

"Tay Tay..."

"Jason!" Taylor gasped. But neither of those mice were in the room. Their voices were coming from... Outside! They were outside her door! Immediately getting off her bed, Taylor rushed back to her door and peeked through her keyhole just in time to see Zeke crawling up the final step of the stairs, picking the key up behind him with Jason nearly tripping over his own tail. Never in her life had Taylor been so grateful or relieved to see her mouse friends.

"Us is comin Tay Tay. Us is comin." Zeke promised as he and Jason got closer to the door.

"You got the key!" Taylor gasped. She had no idea how they did it. These mice were miracle workers. Heck, forget miracle workers. They were her miracles. "How did you do it?"

"It a long story." Zeke replied as he momentarily left Jason with the key to crawl under the door to get to Taylor. Now all Jason had to do was push the key under the door, Taylor would pick up the key, rush downstairs, and kick those ugly step sisters butts. Or...you know, something like that.

But there was one more obstacle standing in their way. Just as Jason was about to push the key under the door, he felt not alone. Almost like someone was watching him. Looking at the floor, the little mouse could see a much larger shadow over his. He slowly turned around and shrieked, only to see Ryan with a tea cup in his paws. Before Jason could even call for help, Ryan slammed the cup over Jason and held it down, leaving the poor defenseless rodent and key trapped underneath. Ryan merely smirked. He was finally going to get that mouse sundae he always dreamed of!

"Ryan!" Taylor gasped, witnessing his actions through her keyhole. "Let him go!"

Ryan just pulled the tea cup closer to him. He finally got the mouse, why would he give it up now?

"Ryan, let Jason go this instant." Taylor scolded.

Ryan shook his head. What could she do to him anyway? She was locked behind the door. For all she knew, Ryan would just eat the key along with Jason.

"Bad cat!" she scolded once more.

That did nothing either. Taylor would just have to use a different approach. She used her best possible sad voice on the cat.

"Please, you have to let him go. You have no idea what's at stake here." she pleaded. "Please let Jason go. He never did anything to you."

Ryan rolled his eyes. His masters were more dramatic than that. No matter what kind of voice or impression Taylor used on him, he wouldn't even consider letting Jason go.

"Ryan, if you let him go I'll give you a nice big kitty treat." Taylor offered in her sweetest voice.

Ryan shook his head again. He knew she was bluffing. And her idea of a good kitty treat was a stuffed mouse. They weren't nearly as entertaining as they looked. Now if she had offered string, that was way more entertaining.

From the mouse holes inside Taylor's room, all the other mice poked their heads out to see what was happening. All they were getting from this was that Ryan had finally captured Jason and was holding him hostage.

Zeke couldn't take it anymore. It was one thing to pick on Taylor. He knew in the right situation she could handle herself, even if they would always stand by to help. But to pick on Jason, who had almost gotten caught by Ryan at least twice, that was just wrong. That dang cat knew how defenseless Jason was and was using that against him. Zeke wouldn't stand for it.

"Let em go! Let em go!" Zeke demanded, crawling under the door to Ryan. With Ryan's back facing Zeke, the mouse jumped up and grabbed the cat's tail. Ryan's tail moved rapidly back and forth, almost like it was trying to shake Zeke off. Luckily, Zeke had a good grip. He crawled further onto the tail and stretched it out just a little with his hands. He made a face at the tail, knowing he wasn't going to like this. Holding his breath, Zeke opened his mouth and bit down on Ryan's tail. The second the overbite came in contact with the body part, Ryan screamed like a scardey cat and jumped into the air. Zeke fell off and now the cup was out of Ryan's grasp. Zeke rushed to the cup and tried pushing it closer to the door, hoping that would do some good. But as soon as Zeke looked up, he could see Ryan falling back down. He had no choice but to run himself. Ryan's bottom came in contact with the wooden floor, causing the cup to jump in mid air. As soon as he was free, Jason began running around in circles. He had no idea what he was doing or what was going on, he just wanted to get away from Ryan. But then the tea cup fell back onto the floor and, once again, on top of Jason. Ryan smirked like the Cheshire Cat and held the cup over Jason with his paws.

The mice looked outside from the few mouse holes in the wall, witnessing the capture. Ryan had done it this time. Now it was off to war with the cat! Running back into the holes, the mice grabbed all the weapons they could, though they mainly consisted of forks and other kitchen utensils. A pair of the mice ran forward, the sharp pointy ends of the fork pointing right at Ryan. Ryan looked all around as the mice attempted to surround him. Alright, sure there was more of them. Sure, they had forks, spoons, and...was that an old pepper shaker?...with them. But Ryan was bigger and he had their friend. Smirking once more, the second any of the mice tried to hit him with the forks, Ryan smashed his paw against the fork, causing the mice to fly back into the wall. He did the same thing with the spoon, which acted like a see-saw; the mice flew back and soon the spoon joined them, actually hitting one of the mice on its head. Finally, he just slapped the one with the pepper shaker away and pulled Jason and the cup closer to him, showing that the mouse had no escape.

So that didn't work. It was time for plan B. Three of the mice took a small roll of tape and stood it up, leaning a candle against it. One of the mice took a match and lit it, then connected it with the candle causing a flame to appear. Joining forces, the three mice used the roll of tape to move the candle towards Ryan almost like it was a cannon. Ryan jumped back for a moment as he saw that happen. Ok think cat, think. How to put out a fire...? Oh wait, he knew this! Ryan held the cup closer to him, not moving an inch until the flame was right in front of him. Ryan held his breath, and then before the flame could get any closer, he blew it out, causing the plan to fail. Ryan couldn't help but laugh. He may not be the smartest cat in the litter box, but even he knew how to deal with a tiny little candle fire. What did the mice take him for, an idiot who couldn't spell DRAMA? But just as Ryan laughed at their foolish attempt...

CRASH!

Ryan felt dizzy for a moment when something hard hit him on the head. He looked around and saw now broken pieces of a plate.

BOOM!

Something hit him again...it was the same thing. What was this now, a kamikaze? Ryan looked up and tried his best to protect himself, seeing all the birds fly over him with breakable dishes and china, all of which they were dropping on him. Alright, now those birds were going to get it. Ryan let go of the cup and jumped up, trying to claw the birds' eyes out...or at least try to hit them.

As he did that, Jason looked up seeing that the cup had fallen off of him and he was in the clear once more. He uncurled from the ball shape he curled himself into and started running back to Taylor's room. Realizing he forgot the key, Jason ran back to get it. Just as he picked it up, Ryan covered him with the cup yet again. How many times in one day could one mouse get trapped by a tea cup held by a cat? This was getting really old really fast.

Taylor watched through the keyhole from inside her room, feeling upset and helpless that she couldn't do anything. All of those times the mice and birds had helped her, and now the one time they needed the most help she couldn't do anything. And they only needed help because they were trying to help her. Taylor had to think of a plan. If this kept up, her little friends wouldn't stand a chance against Ryan, clueless or not. But Ryan had to have some weakness...other than milk and his masters.

Then it hit her. "Donny!" she realized to herself. Donny was a dog; Ryan was a cat. Cats were terrified of dogs. Sure, Taylor had specifically told Donny not to chase after Ryan, but that was only to protect him from getting thrown out, or at least from getting in trouble. But if she told him to chase after Ryan she was sure he'd do it. There was only one way to find out. Taylor just hoped it would work. Not just for her sake, but for Jason and Zeke and all the other mice and birds.

Seeing Cronie, one of the birds flying past the keyhole, Taylor quickly called to him. "Cronie, Donny"

That got the bird's attention; he perched himself onto the door knob and listened to Taylor.

"Get Donny, Cronie. Get Donny." Taylor instructed.

Cronie chirped and nodded, knowing exactly what to do. He flew down the stairs, then stopped and just flew out the nearest window. After all, the window was much quicker to outside than taking the stairs. The bird flew as fast as he could to the back, knowing Donny would be out there sleeping with the chickens right about now. Reaching the back and seeing Donny snoozing comfortably in front of Jimmie's stable, Cronie flew around Donny's head chirping to get his attention. Donny continued to sleep soundly, barely even stirring. However, Jimmie could hear him from in his stable; he poked his head out and listened to the frantic yet almost confused bird. He was chirping with a, "What the heck are you doing sleeping man? Get a saw and bust down the door! Wake up you lazy dog! You still owe me a worm for breakfast!" tone. Yet, Donny continued to snooze. Landing on the ground, Cronie crawled under Donny's ear and chirped right into it. Jimmie twitched one of his ears in attempt to hear the chirps better.

Donny slowly began to wake. He lifted his head and yawned, still trying to make out what the bird was telling him. Didn't Cronie know this was Donny's nap time? But Cronie couldn't take it anymore. He flew up and grabbed Donny's ear, almost like he was trying to pull him towards the house. Jimmie watched this and looked up to the tower. He had understood everything that Cronie said. Taylor was in trouble, and Donny was the only one that could help. Looking back to the dog, Jimmie let out a neigh.

Donny jumped onto all fours as he heard his friend's sudden wake up call. He looked to Jimmie, then back and forth between Cronie and Jimmie. Jimmie continued neighing while Cronie kept on pulling Donny's ear. Did either of them speak English anymore? He had no idea what either of them were saying. He just wanted his nap...and maybe a bone. Though a female dog would be nice too. Someone to play with chase their tail with...why did the mice and birds get all the fun?

Unfortunately, time was running out for Taylor and all the animals. Back in the living room of the house, Tiara was fiddling with the shoe, trying to get it on. Gabriella had offered to help numerous times, yet Tiara refused. She wanted to do this on her own. And every time Gabriella started to help, Tiara would just shove her off like yesterday's fashion style. Besides, as far as Tiara was concerned, what did a footwoman know about feet anyway? She was there to stand around and watch them, not try to help with some shoe. What was this girl's deal?

"Why can't this stupid shoe fit right anymore?" Tiara demanded as she continued to force it on.

"Maybe if you had some assistance it would fit better..." Gabriella suggested.

"I told you, I don't need your stupid help!" Tiara criticized.

"If it doesn't fit then we have to move on." Gabriella informed her. She was starting to like Sharpay better than Tiara. From what Gabriella could tell, Sharpay was a drama queen. Tiara was just plain flat out mean.

"NO!" Tiara yelled. "I'm telling you, this is my shoe and it does fit! Now let me work my shoe!"

"If you keep that up you're going to break it." she replied.

"No I won't!" Tiara argued.

Gabriella stepped over in one final attempt to help, only to literally be pushed to the side by Tiara again. Troy's jaw dropped as he witnessed that.

"You can't do that to her!" he gasped.

Darbus held an arm in front of Troy to prevent him from stepping closer. "Hormones." she lied for her daughter. "You know how teenagers are. Let her try a little longer."

Troy groaned. How much more time could they spend putting up with these people?

"Shut up, all of you!" Tiara demanded. "I'll make it fit!" Even though that was proof it wasn't Tiara's slipper, she still tried to squeeze her foot in there. So much so that it almost looked like an upside-down U in the show. That was how small the slipper was compared to her feet. But from Darbus' point of view, even though the slipper was clearly too small for Tiara's foot, it fit.

"It fits!" Darbus grinned.

"It fits?" Troy gasped.

"It fits?" Gabriella quirked an eyebrow doubtfully. Even though she knew Troy wanted to keep his hopes up for the sake of his brother, Gabriella was still doubtful. And for the Prince's sake, the slipper had better not fit this she-beast of a Britain...well, Gabriella would finish that thought except for the fact that she didn't like using words like that. But Tiara was evil, she just knew it!

Luckily, it didn't last long at all. Tiara's foot literally popped out of the slipper, flicking it off and into the air.

"Oh no!" Troy cried as he ran around the room, trying to catch the slipper. If it fell and broke, his brother would never find the mystery girl. And King Jack would have their heads...or at least some body part of theirs.

"The slipper!" Gabriella shrieked. She ran in the opposite direction of Troy, struggling to get the slipper. While neither of them were known to freak out and run in circles like maniacs the way they were doing now, they still had a very good reason to.

Not noticing his shoelace had become untied with all the running, Troy tripped over it and accidentally bumped into Gabriella, causing the both of them to fall down. Gabriella hit the floor first, and Troy landed on top of her. For a moment they just lay there stunned as they stared at each other. But it felt like they were forgetting something... Man why did they both have to be so attractive and distracting?

"Wait a minute, the slipper!" Gabriella realized.

"The slipper!" Troy repeated. He looked up to see the slipper falling back down. Reaching his hand out, the inside of the shoe swung on his finger just in time, leaving it in tact, in one piece, and not broken...and now both Troy and Gabriella with a near heart attack.

Darbus sighed with relief as Troy caught the shoe. Even she knew if anything happened to that thing, it would be on her. "I'm terribly sorry Your Grace. It shan't happen again."

Troy raised an eyebrow. "Shan't is a word?"

"Yes it is. And we shan't stay on the floor." Gabriella suggested, seeing Troy still on top of her.

Troy looked to Gabriella and noticed this. He quickly got up, followed by Gabriella. "Right, right." he stammered. "Shan't isn't a word."

Gabriella looked to Darbus. "And this certainly shan't happen again."

Troy tapped Gabriella on the shoulder and whispered to her, "The shoe or the falling."

"The shoe." she answered in a whisper. "I'm sure we can make the falling happen again." she added with a smile.

"Oh..." Troy nodded. Then he understood what she meant by that. "Oh!"

Back outside, Donny had finally gotten the message. He was running after Cronie towards the house with nothing but anger in his eyes. How dare that witch of a lady lock his master up. Why would Ryan attack Jason constantly? And why wouldn't he help Taylor out? Oh that cat was going to get it when Donny was through with him! And if Taylor wanted Donny to do something about Ryan, then he would do it no questions asked. He jumped over the lower half of the kitchen door and tumbled inside, accidentally knocking over a table with pots and pans. Cronie flew to Donny to make sure he was ok. Donny shook his head to get one of the pots off his head and then continued rushing through the house. Luckily he was able to get around the living room where the step family was and find a different way to get up to the tower. Bursting through the door at the foot of the stairs to the tower, Donny dashed upstairs only to collapse out of breath at the top. He lay down to take a moment to catch his breath, then looked up and saw Ryan. He grinned at Ryan and slowly approached. Ryan shrieked and backed up against the door practically begging Donny not to hurt him. Even he knew that with Taylor not around to tell him not to chase Ryan, Donny could do as he pleased.

Now, Donny wasn't going to hurt Ryan...on purpose. His intention was to get Ryan away from Jason and scare the living heck out of the devil cat. And if Ryan should happen to get hurt somehow...well it wouldn't be Donny's fault. As long as he'd be able to chase Ryan, Donny would be happy. So he did just that. Donny started by pouncing on Ryan. Ryan squirmed out from under Donny and tried his best to climb to the window. Donny barked and chased after him, opening and closing his mouth like he was trying to bite Ryan. Ryan climbed onto the windowsill, avoiding Donny's jaws. Donny struggled to climb up to the window, but he just wasn't as agile or, for lack of a better word, climby, as Ryan. Ryan chuckled seeing that Donny could no longer reach him. It looked like he was safe. Donny sat in front of the window slowly moving his tail back and forth watching Ryan carefully. Ryan looked so calm and relaxed, but Donny sat there quietly. Then, the second he let out a single "WOOF" Ryan gasped and lost his balance, falling out of this window. Although, cats always land on their feet so even falling all the way down from the top of the tower Ryan survived with all nine lives in tact.

Zeke ran over to the cup, helping a couple of the mice to get it off of Jason. He then tapped Jason on the shoulder, who was holding tightly onto the key with his hands and feet. Jason's eyes were tightly shut, refusing to let go.

"C'mon Jase Jase. You safe now." Zeke said. He tried to pull Jason off the key, but Jason shook his head, still thinking he was Ryan's prisoner.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" Jason shook his head.

Zeke went over to Jason's tail and began pulling it. "Let go. Let go. Let go!" On the last 'let go', he pulled Jason off. Jason opened his eyes and looked around. Oh...there was no Ryan anymore. He then looked as saw Zeke taking the key, trying his best to push it under the door to Taylor. Jason got behind his friend and pushed along with him, only hoping that they could indeed get the key to her in time.

Back downstairs, Gabriella was making her way towards the carriage, more than happy to leave the house. Troy stood in the doorway, ready to leave as well. Once again, he felt disappointed that they hadn't found the girl. But he supposed in this case, it was for the better. Those two girls were no good for Chad anyway. Still feeling like something was missing, or perhaps it was to give one last chance for a miracle here, Troy turned to Darbus.

"You're sure you're the only ladies in this house I hope..." he quickly cleared his throat and corrected himself, "I mean, pressume?"

Darbus shook her head. "There's no one else." she lied, sure that Taylor was still safely locked away. And the second that Troy left, the stepmother was really going to let Taylor have it.

Troy nodded, unsure of whether to feel disappointed or relieved. "Very well then. Have a good day." He turned to head out to the carriage, hoping to never have to deal with this family again. But he was stopped when he heard a voice calling to him. A female voice.

"Your Grace!"

Troy stopped in his tracks and turned around. Surely that wasn't the voice of any of the ladies he dealt with in this house.

Gabriella stood right beside the carriage, wondering what was taking troy so long. "Is everything alright?" she called.

Troy, which was a shock, didn't answer. He was in a bit of a shock himself. He walked back into the house, surprised to see another young woman at the top of the stairs. That woman was none other than Taylor. And surely enough, she did look familiar to Troy. All he had recalled of the woman rushing out of the castle was skin similar to Chad's shade, and he thought her hair was a shade of brown or black. From what he could tell, this girl fit the description. Forget the fact that if she had the big brown eyes Chad had recalled - and she did - she'd be the perfect fit. But Troy was no fool; he wasn't going to let perhaps the last opportunity to find out go to waste.

When Troy didn't respond, Gabriella walked back in, with the shoe remaining on the pillow. She was about to ask him again when she saw Taylor coming down the stairs. So there had been someone else in this house! Gabriella knew this family couldn't be trusted. For all their sakes, Gabriella was hoping this girl was far more polite and easy to work with.

"your Grace, please wait." Taylor said as she entered the living room.

Darbus' jaw dropped, along with her daughters. Sharpay and Tiara thought for sure that their mother took care of that girl. And Darbus had been more sure than anyone that Taylor was safely locked in her room and would be punished as soon as this was over. How on earth did she ever escape?

"May I try it on?" Taylor inquired. Though she was fully aware that the shoe would fit her, Taylor wasn't going to be one to get up in their faces and say she knew it was her shoe. In a case such as this, the evidence should speak for itself. And she was sure that these people suffered enough dealing with the step family. Taylor wouldn't even think of adding to that torture.

Troy smiled as he watched Taylor enter. He had a really good feeling about this girl. And not just because she seemed to have the manners the rest of the family lacked. Even better - he could easily picture her with Chad. They would make a very nice couple. He briefly leaned in towards Gabriella.

"I think we hit the jackpot." he whispered to her.

As hopeful as Gabriella was that this was the girl, after all the searching she had been preparing for the worst yet hoping for the best. Right now she was hoping for the best more than anything else. And they couldn't just go on by looks alone. No matter how pretty or nice she was, there was only one way to find out for sure if she was Chad's girl.

"What are we waiting for?" she whispered back.

But Darbus was determined not to let this become a happy ending for them. Taylor needed to be punished for defying her. Sneaking out to that ball and starting this mess in the first place. Not to mention she'll be the one to snatch the chance at being a princess away from Tiara or Sharpay. Taylor didn't deserve to be a princess. Darbus had intended to make Taylor's life miserable and after she was done here, it was going to be worse than ever.

"Pay no attention to Taylor. She's just a servant girl." she tried to convince Troy and Gabriella.

"She's nothing." Sharpay added quickly.

"She's in a costume." Tiara blurted out.

"We found her in the poor house."

"She cleans up after us."

"She's nothing."

"She's ridiculous."

"She's impossible."

"don't waste your time on her."

"Don't give her my slipper."

Darbus tried her best not to chuckle nervously as she blocked Taylor from getting any closer to Troy. "She's just an imaginative child. No need to get her involved."

Taylor tried her best not to roll her eyes. Please, was this the best they've got? Nothing was going to stand in her way now. She'd sure love to rub the truth in their faces. But it was best to save that for another time.

"Ma'am, my orders were to try the shoe on every girl in the kingdom." Troy explained to Darbus as though she were a five year old. He gestured to Taylor. "She is a girl. She has feet. So we need to try the shoe on."

"Of...course..." Darbus responded, one of her eyes twitching as Troy approached Taylor.

"Now then, let's get this over with." Troy suggested as he led Taylor to a chair and helped her down.

"Thank you very much." she replied. She removed one of her shoes, knowing exactly what foot the slipper went on. Gabriella observed carefully as Taylor did that. That had to be a sign that she was the one they were looking for. So far she and Troy have had to tell all the girls which foot the slipper went on, yet Taylor knew instantly.

Troy then turned to Gabriella. "The slipper please?"

"at once." Gabriella answered loyally, wasting no time in bringing the shoe over.

But just bringing it over would be far too easy. Darbus still had a few tricks left up her sleeve. If they didn't have the slipper, they couldn't try it on Taylor. If they couldn't try it on Taylor then they'd have to leave. And if they left then Taylor could stay there and be her slave forever...or at least until one of them died. What a pleasant thought. At least it was for Darbus. But she was determined not to let this become a happy ending. Making sure no one was watching, Darbus stretched out her broom the slightest bit - just enough to trip Gabriella. Gabriella lost her balance and fell over, the slipper falling off of its safe house. It flew through the air and, just before reaching Troy or Taylor, it made contact with the floor and shattered into a thousand pieces.

Gabriella looked up the second she heard a smash. She gasped and covered her mouth. The slipper was completely destroyed...and it was her fault.

"I'm so sorry!"

Troy seemed in more shock than he'd been in all day. After all that searching...they had come so close. And now it was all ruined.

"The...the slipper..."

Gabriella ran over. "Troy I'm so sorry." she apologized. She couldn't describe how bad she felt about this.

Troy was too shocked and upset to be mad at Gabriella. He knew it was an accident. It wasn't either of them he was upset for. He was more upset for Chad.

"I..I can't...I can't believe it. The slipper... It's...it's..." he stammered. "Just...no! No..no...no...no...no! This can't be happening!" He even went so far as to drop to the ground and try to reattach the slipper, though he knew it was useless. "This is terrible. This is the worst possible thing that could happen." He then gasped. Forget about Chad for a minute, what about his father? "My Dad! What will he say when he finds out? What will he do?"

"I'm sure he'll understand..." Gabriella attempted to help. "It wasn't your fault. He should take it out on me."

"But it was my responsibility. I'm supposed to make Chad happy. This was all for him." Troy moaned. "Oh man, I broke Chad's heart and now I'm gonna make my Dad angry and kill me."

Taylor hated to see them to down like this. She knew very well that it wasn't either of their faults. She knew Darbus had to have something to do with this. She wasn't exactly sure how, but she knew it was Darbus' fault. Taylor forced herself to keep her mouth shut. This wasn't the time to point fingers. For once, the worst possible thing that could happen didn't make Taylor feel hopeless at all. As a matter of fact, if anything it made her feel more relieved.

"But perhaps, if it would help..." she offered.

Troy shook his head. "I appreciate you trying. But nothing would help. It's all over. We're dead. We're deader than dead. It's over." he replied, mourning over the broken shoe.

"But you see..." Taylor said as she reached into one of her pockets. She had been keeping it there in the safest spot possible. The one place where no one could steal or break it. A place where it could be kept close to her as a reminder of the most magical night of her life. The one remaining thing left from it. And now was the time that they needed it more than anything. It was exactly what they had all been hoping for. Out from her pocket came the thing they needed most. "I have the other slipper."

Darbus looked in complete doubt. How did that girl ever get the other slipper? How did she even keep that other slipper? The only way to describe her wide-eyed jaw-dropping expression was the acronym WTH.

Troy looked up at Taylor and saw the slipper. His eyes widened with delight and a huge smile came across his face. Gabriella smiled warmly and sighed with relief. They had never had such a close call before. They didn't need anymore proof than that; this was the girl they were looking for. Gabriella knew she had a good feeling about her. And Troy knew that they were onto something when they saw her come down those stairs. It was nothing but a moment of delight and speechlessness. Taking the slipper, Troy smiled and carefully slipped it onto Taylor's other foot which was the perfect match. And now the Prince could have his perfect match.

* * *

Alright, this chapter ended a little more simply than I wanted it to. I was considering dividing this into two chapters and making it end from there, but why do that when we can see the happy ending all at once? Yeah...you'll see that next chapter. I'm not making this the end of the story. XD this chapter seemed to have everything. Sadness, happiness, humor, heartbreak, witches, and animals. By the way, and this will come up again in the credits, **no animals were harmed in the writing of this story**. Anyway, i really hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm going to try and get to the final chapter ASAP. And then i just have to decide if the credits and song are going to be all in one chapter or two separate chapters. Most of the credits for Cinderella came at the beginning instead of the end. Anyway, just figure there's about two chapters left. and then it'll be time to start working on a new story. Like i said, the next crossover i'm planning is Princess and the Frog. As for other story ideas...so many and so much other stuff to do. DX Anyway, let's finish up with this one first shall we? Thank you everyone for reading and stay tuned for the conclusion and happy ending...you know, aside from reading the typical 'and they all loved happily ever after'. XD


	18. Chapter 17

Well here we are now, the final chapter! Wow it feels kind of weird to be at the end of this. Then again, if i didn't get distracted almost all week it would have ended sooner. 0-0 But anyway, so far this story got 96 reviews which i'm really happy about. I'm glad to know everyone enjoyed the story so much and i wanna say thanks for all the nice things everyone had to say about the story and for sticking with the story. And i say this now because i'm not sure how many people will read the credits and music chapter. xD Hey, i'm allowed to joke about my own work. Anyway, before this chapter gets started, one last thank you to all the wonderful people who reviewed: _Rockyshadow, CharleneJoy, Chaylorfan4eve1994, Ambinlovewlive, MermaidRam85, Chaylorxtraylorlover, HeartsWereNeverMeantToRace, WhyDoesItHaveToRainOnMyParade, Chaylorfan4eve1995, LadiiBabiiCottonCandii990, and melako17._  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

* * *

Taylor couldn't believe that she was entering the castle a second time. It felt even more incredible walking in during broad daylight. And the people were just so friendly. She had found out that Troy, the Grand Duke, was prince Chad's brother. And according to him, Chad wouldn't stop talking about her. It felt so embarrassing to know a guy had been thinking of nothing but her, but it was also flattering. And hey, what should Taylor say? She didn't find out it was the prince right away and even before then he was the only thing on her mind. As for Gabriella the footwoman, Taylor had never gotten along with another girl so well. It felt so nice not to have someone starting a cat fight with her or telling her what to do. And she could certainly tell that girl had a thing for Troy. Once Troy exited the room to go find Chad, that left the girls to their talk.

"You know, we could have those women arrested." Gabriella stated, breaking the silence.

Taylor turned to her. "You wouldn't really do that would you?" she inquired.

"No, not me." she shook her head. "But once the king finds out that your step family was trying to keep you locked up during our search he will not be very happy."

"What would make the king happy?" Taylor wondered.

"To see grandkids before he dies." Gabriella shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh I don't know the prince that well." Taylor shook her head.

Gabriella looked like she was going to burst out laughing.

"What?" Taylor asked.

"I may not have seen much at the ball, but for Chad to have fallen head over heels you two must have been all over each other." Gabriella said.

Taylor rubbed the back of her head. "I don't look like the same girl he met that night. How do I know he won't change his mind?" Great time for teenage insecurities to kick in.

"Trust me, if Chad doesn't go crazy over you then his father will." Gabriella promised.

"You mean like how Troy goes crazy over you?" Taylor couldn't help but ask.

Gabriella blushed. "Well, Chad did promise me a date with Troy if i found you."

"Oh I get it." Taylor teased. "This wasn't about making your friend happy. It was all about getting your man."

Before Gabriella could answer, the girls saw Troy come back wiht a smile on his face. "My brother's in the next room. he's waiting for you."

"Thank you, Your Grace." Taylor said.

Troy smiled and shook his head. "for the last time, you can call me Troy to my face. And when you go see Chad, don't call him Prince or Sire. After all, you guys are gonna be married."

Taylor nodded. She had forgotten about that part. not that she had any problems with that, she didn't at all. She was crazy about the guy. Gabriella had told her Chad fell head over heels for her. Taylor would be crazy not to marry him. But that didn't stop her from being so nervous. A small part of her was still thinking that now that Chad knew who she was, he'd throw away everything he thought about her and want someone else. At the ball she never mentioned her home life or what she did or anything like that. He probably deserved more royalty than her anyway.

"Taylor?"

Taylor snapped out of her thoughts and turned back to Troy.

"Any time you're ready to go in." Troy told her.

"Right." Taylor nodded. "Thank you." She slowly left the room, closing the door behind her. She leaned up against the closed doors, waiting before entering the next room. She took a deep breath, feeling more and more nervous to go in. Picking up her head, she could see her little mouse friends. They were looking at her through a small hole in the wall. Knowing Zeke and everyone, they must have found a way to sneak onto the carriage and then crawled into the castle through some holes. Taylor could see the concerned look on their faces. None of them said anything, most likely afraid of getting caught. One of the mice pointed towards the door but Taylor shook her head. They kept pointing but Taylor then mouthed 'no'. Then she shook her head. What was Taylor doing? Arguing with the mice, the friends that helped her get here in the first place? She couldn't let her nerves get the better of her. Not now of all times. She then noticed Jason puckering his lips and making kissing noises. Taylor couldn't help but smile and roll her eyes. She playfully mouthed to Jason to shut up, but then heard one of the doors open. She quickly shut her mouth and turned her head to see none other than Prince Chad coming out. Their eyes locked and the two of them smiled nervously, almost unsure of what to say.

"Hi." Taylor said, feeling shy for probably the first time in her life.

"Hi." Chad replied almost just as nervously. This was totally different from when they met at the ball. Chad had been prepared to meet just about any girl there. Something about it made him feel more comfortable. Maybe it was because he had no idea he really was going to meet someone and had just expected to be bored all night. But today was his day to finally see his dream girl again and he was ruining it by talking nervously and probably sweating. That was so going to turn her off. He just hoped that after all this suspense and waiting he wouldn't blow it.

"So...um..." Taylor nearly stammered. She tried her best to remember to maintain her composure before continuing. "i...I just thought I was supposed to meet you in there."

"Yeah. I mean, you were." Chad nodded. "But I just left to go use the little boy's room."

"Oh." she replied. "I guess I shouldn't stand in your way of that."

"No, I don't have to go anymore." Chad blurted out.

Taylor raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh I didn't mean right now." Chad shook his head, knowing the more he talked the more he was embarrassing himself. "I don't have a diaper. I'm toilet trained." He turned bright red trying to shut himself up even though Taylor was giggling at his insane blabbing. "Ok, you say words now."

Taylor smiled. "You're pretty funny."

"I'm glad I entertain you." Chad said with a smile. "Um...I never even got your name did I?"

"Me either." Taylor replied. "I mean, your name when we met. I know who you are now."

"I'm Chad. Well, Prince Chad. But you don't have to say the Prince part." he said.

Taylor smiled. "My name's Taylor."

"I really like that name." Chad replied smiling.

Taylor blushed. "I really like you."

"I really like you, too."

"I really like your hair."

"I really like your smile."

"I really like...all of you."

"I really like..." Chad paused for a minute as he tried to think of something. Sure he could think of plenty of things. But how could he beat 'I really like all of you'? He shook his head when he couldn't think of anything. "Can we skip to the part where we kiss?"

"Gladly." Taylor answered almost right away.

Chad smiled and moved closer to Taylor. He wrapped his arms around her and moved in for the kiss. Just as their lips were about to touch, the door behind them opened and Troy poked his head in, surprising the two of them and they quickly pulled away from each other.

"Sorry was I interrupting something?" Troy wondered.

"Not really..." Taylor lied, not wanting to hurt his feelings.

"Kind of, yeah." Chad answered.

"Sorry." Troy apologized. "But Dad really wants to meet..."

"He can meet her later. We're busy." Chad interrupted. He waited this long for her again and he really didn't want to wait anymore.

"You know how impatient Dad can get." Troy replied.

"Maybe he can give us ten minutes?" Taylor inquired.

"Fifteen." Chad quickly corrected.

"How about an even twenty?" Taylor suggested.

"i like the way you think." Chad told her with a smile.

"I'll go let dad know." Troy couldn't help but sigh. "Have fun you two. But not too much fun."

"Trust me, we will." Chad replied as Troy left, even though he was looking at Taylor when he said it.

Taylor smiled and could feel her face heat up. "Now I believe we were in the middle of something?"

"As a matter of fact, we were." Chad grinned. He leaned in once more, only to hear...

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN TWENTY MINUTES?"

Chad groaned and pulled back. "Guess Dad's really getting impatient." he sighed. "I'd better go talk to him."

"Would it be easier if I came with you?" Taylor wondered.

"It's alright." Chad shook his head. "I'm a big boy, I can talk to my own dad."

"Well I hope you can. You did say you were toilet trained." she teased playfully.

"Very funny." Chad chuckled. "Can I call you if he can't wait any longer?"

"I'll be waiting right here." Taylor said.

"Alright. I promise I won't be too long." he replied pecking her cheek. Chad then headed into the next room to try to knock some sense into King Jack. Taylor couldn't help but smile and shake her head as she watched him. This was certainly one crazy family. But hey, it was better than her so-called family.

"Well you look awfully happy."

Taylor nearly jumped hearing the voice coming from out of nowhere. She slowly turned around to see who it was, and was surprised to see her fairy godmother.

"Kelsi?" she asked, a bit shocked. "How did you get here?"

"By fairy magic. It's the quickest way to travel." Kelsi said. Then she shrugged. "Alright, I was trying to get to the music store. I took a wrong turn somewhere. But now that I'm here, I can see how you're doing."

"A lot better, thanks to you." Taylor admitted. "I never got to thank you for helping me."

"But you did, dear. I've heard you say it at least five other times after I left." Kelsi replied.

"Can I make it an even six?" Taylor asked.

"No need to. I'm happy I could help." she answered. She then pointed towards the door where Chad left. "That's some guy you snagged there."

Taylor smiled. "More like some prince."

"Wow, you sure know how to score." Kelsi said. "I knew it was the right idea to send you to the ball."

"It was the best night of my life." Taylor confessed. "But there is one thing I've kind of been wondering."

"What's that, dear?" Kelsi wondered.

"The glass slipper you left...tons of girls before me tried it on but it didn't fit any of them. Why is that?"

Kelsi was about to answer when both women heard Chad's voice.

"Taylor ready to meet my dad? I promise he won't bite."

Taylor giggled hearing that. "Be right there."

"I'll be waiting for your pretty face." Chad called back, most likely with a smile.

"He calls them as he sees them." she nodded with approval.

Taylor smiled. "I'll take your word for it."

"You can't keep your man waiting then." she replied.

"But what about the glass slipper?" Taylor wondered.

Kelsi shook her head. "That's my little secret." She turned and pulled out her wand to leave. Then, turning back to Taylor, Kelsi smiled. "But just between you and me, there's two things that can solve any problem. Fairy magic, and Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo." With a flick of her wand, the fairy godmother disappeared once more into the sparkling fairy dust.

Once Kelsi had disappeared, Chad came behind Taylor and playfully covered her eyes. "Guess who." he said.

Taylor smiled. "My prince?"

"The one and only." he replied grinning as Taylor turned to him. "Ready to meet my dad? After all, we've got a wedding to get ready for."

Taylor smiled and nodded. "Yeah we do."

And so it wasn't too much later that the wedding took place and Chad and Taylor were happily married. They arrivaed at the chruch and were attended by the castle staff, and, secretly by Taylor's mouse and bird friends. Even from outside Jimmie and Donnie watched the ceremony. The entire kingdom gathered around to watch the newlywed couple leave into the sunset. Everyone cheered that the prince had finally chosen a spouse, whereas most of the girls were just heartbroken that it wasn't them. The only family who didn't attend and were too angry to even watch was Taylor's step family, and were now stuck trying to figure out how they would make it on their own without some servant girl willing to wait on them hand and foot without complaining or putting up a fight. But all in all, the event was nothing short of a celebration. Gabriella and Troy were there as the best man and maid of honor, and of course exchanged glances every once in a while. If it were even possible, King Jack looked happier than anyone else there. He was finally seeing his eldest son get married, something he had eagerly been waiting for years. And it wasn't until the wedding that he was finally able to see the perfect woman to pair up with Troy. But of course, the king would get right on that after two important matters: being given his first grandchild, and having a very important man-to-man talk with Troy. As for Chad and Taylor, they couldn't look happier to finally be together. As soon as they were pronounced husband and wife, not to mention future king and queen of the kingdom, they headed out to the carriage.

Zeke, Jason, and all the other mice watched from one of the windowsills outside happily throwing confetti - which Jason almost confused with tiny piece of cheese and tried to eat. And as Chad and Taylor headed down the stairs, the night of the ball replayed and Taylor lost one of her slippers. She and Chad stopped and turned to see the glass slipper safely on the step. She went back to get it, and King Jack happily slipped it back onto her foot. Taylor smiled and kissed his cheek, happy to have such a sweet father in law. King Jack looked quite content as well as his face turned bright red. He knew his son picked a good girl, he just knew it.

The kingdom then began cheering as Chad and Taylor entered the carriage, ready to head off to their honeymoon. Actually, they couldn't wait to go and get some alone time. They couldn't do much kissing when so much of the castle staff walked in at any given time. But that certainly wasn't going to stop either of them, especially not Taylor. After all those hardships, after all the torture and drama, there was a happy ending. She just knew in the end, it would all be worth it. And so did her friends.

_Have faith in dreams and someday_

_Your rainbow will come smiling through_

What made her even more happy was that moving into a new home with a new family they were still by her side, ready to help her through anything. Zeke, Jason, Martha, and all the other mice could live in peace away from mice-eating cats. Cronie and the rest of the birds could build their very own permanent nests just outside the castle. Donnie would become the royal pet, loyal to Taylor and all other people in the castle who wouldn't kick him out for jumping on their beds or barking at the local cats. And leading the royal carriage as the lead horse was none other than Jimmie who could now do more than just sit in the stables and watch chickens. It wasn't just Taylor's happy ending, it was all of their happy endings.

_No matter how your heart is grieving_

_If you keep on believing_

As the carriage drove out of everyone's sights and into the sunset, through the back window everyone could see the prince and princess kiss once more. And they all lived happily ever after.

_The dream that you wish will come true_

* * *

And there we go, the final chapter of Cinderella: HSM Edition. It was a little shorter than I intended, but had everything needed. Taylor and Chad's meeting, Chad going crazy, a brief guest appearance from the fairy godmother, knowing what happened to the step family and all the animals, and of course the actual ending of the movie itself. I hope you all enjoyed the story and there will be plenty more stories to come. As usual, thanks for reading and thanks for all the support. All that's left here is the credits and the ending song, and coming up soon will be a new story. I can't wait to read all the other Chaylor stories out there and while you guys wait for me to get started on the nest Disney crossover, don't forget about The Little Mermaid: HSM Style. Peace out everyone! (=


	19. Credits

Alright so it took a while but I finally got up this final chapter. I was completely clueless on how to make a music video-esque chapter out of this so I combined it with the credits. I really hope it turned out well. I used the lyrics from the Disney Channel Circle of Stars version, but just imagine the version playing during these credits are slower but pwoerful. That makes sense, right? I hope so. And guess who would be singing these lyrics? Oh come on, you guys know. 0=) Anyway please enjoy this final installment of the HSM version of Cinderella.  
Disclaimer: I don't own the song, the characters, or anything.**

* * *

**

**A dream is a wish**

_Shows the birds flying in and waking Taylor up_

Directed by:  
Kenny Ortega  
Clyde Geronimi  
Hamilton Luske  
Wilfred Jackson

**A dream is a wish your heart makes  
When you're fast asleep**

_Shows Donny dreaming about chasing Ryan and Taylor waking him up_

**In dreams you will lose your heartaches**

Produced by:  
Bill Boreden  
Don Schain  
Walt Disney

**Whatever you wish for you keep**

Written by:  
Peter Barsocchini  
Ken Anderson  
Perce Pearce  
Homer Brightman  
Winston Hibler  
Bill Peet  
Erdman Penner  
Harry Reeves  
Joe Rinaldi  
Ted Sears

_Shows the mice listening to Taylor singing_

**Have faith in your dreams and someday  
Your rainbow will come smiling through**

Distributed by  
Walt Disney Pictures & RKO Radio Pictures

**No matter how your heart is grieving  
If you keep on believing  
The dream that you wish will come true**

_Switches to Taylor daydreaming_

With the voice talents/acting styling of:

**A dream is a wish your heart makes**

Monique Coleman  
Ilene Woods

**When you're feeling small**

Alyson Reed  
Eleanor Audley

**Alone in the night you whisper  
Thinking no one can hear you at all**

_Shows Taylor standing in her dress after the stepsisters tore it apart_

Bart Johnson  
Zac Efron  
Luis Van Rooten

**You wake with the morning sunlight  
To find fortune that is smiling on you**

_Flashes Taylor being comforted by Kelsi her fairy godmother_

Chris Warren Jr.  
Ryne Sanborn  
Justin Martin  
Jimmy MacDonald

**Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow,  
For all you know tomorrow**

_Switches to Taylor's ball gown transformation_

Corbin Bleu  
William Phipps

**The dream that you wish will come true**

Ashley Tisdale  
Lucille Bliss

Jemma McKenzie-Brown  
Rhoda Williams

**When you can dream, then you can start  
A dream is a wish you make with your heart**

_Flashes to Kelsi changing the pumpkin into a carriage_

Oleysa Rulin  
Verna Felton

**When you can dream, then you can start  
A dream is a wish you make with your heart**

_Shows Taylor entering the castle  
Flashes to Chad bowing to every lady appearing, looking very bored_

Vanessa Hudgens  
Larry Grey

**A dream is a wish your heart makes**

_Chad sees Taylor and walks right over to her_

**When you're fast asleep  
In dreams you will lose your heartaches**

Lucas Grabeel  
June Foray

_Chad and Taylor start dancing_

With

**Whatever you wish for you keep**

Kaycee Stroh  
Tanya Chisholm  
Kelli Baker  
McCall Clark

**You wake with the morning sunlight**

And Matt Prokap

**To find fortune that is smiling on you**

_Shows Chad and Taylor dancing around the castle grounds_

Music by:  
Paul J. Smith  
Oliver Wallace

**Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow  
For all you know tomorrow**

_Then switches to them kissing_

**The dream that you wish will come true**

Narrated by:  
Betty Lou Gerson

**No matter how your heart is grieving  
If you keep on believing**

_Shows Taylor then running away,  
Followed by Chad trying to chase after her and then Troy trying to catch up to her_

A Walt Disney Masterpiece

**The dream that you wish will come true**

Dedicated to Ilene Woods

_Troy tries the glass slipper on Taylor which fits perfectly_

**No matter how your heart is grieving**

Thanks to MermaidRam85 for casting assistance

_Flashes through Taylor and Chad meeting again_

**If you keep on believing**

_Shows them leaving the church after getting married_

Thanks to everyone who reviewed:  
AshleyNLucasforeva  
Rockyshadow  
Ambinlovewlove  
Chaylorxtraylorlover  
MermaidRam85  
HartsWereNeverMeantToRace  
WhyDoesItHaveToRainOnMyParade  
Chaylorfan4eve1995  
LaddiiBabbiiCottonCandii990  
Melako17

_Shows Taylor and Chad riding off in the carriage and sharing one more kiss_

**The dream that you wish will come true**

* * *

And that's the end of it. It took me forever to type this up (alright, i'm exaggerating) because I got distracted by TV, and somehow I found myself searching all through my messages to who helped me with all the characters. XD Note to self: always keep a side note, and stop watching TV when typing things. Ok, I won't keep you guys here any longer. Thank you all once again for reading this story, and thanks for the great feedback and all the wonderful reviews. I will continue to update my current story before working on my next one, which will be another HSM/Disney crossover. And don't forget to keep checking in on MermaidRam85's The Little Mermaid, because everyone loves a mermaid. Once again, thank you everyone and keep in touch!


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